The Chance To Change Destiny
by Twiggy Otaku
Summary: After being kidnapped by some strange old ninja, two girls are surprised to find themselves int he world of Naruto, a show they both watched,and they decide to change the plot of Naruto for the better. They also find themselves with some... alterations that seem to make things interesting. OCs.
1. Kidnapped!

**A.N. HELLLOOOO This is a collaboration story that I wrote with beccabandicoot, a fun little story that we would love reviews for so please do so :P**

* * *

I love the sun. There is no other way to put it, I love the sun. I don't actually know what it is though; maybe it's the warmth or the light it brings, or perhaps it's because it's because the sun never argues back and make me feel stupid. Well, whatever it is, I love it. I gave a small stretch before turning over and lying on my back, I was by my pool with one of my closest friends, why? She was bored and I had a pool.

"You do know that the point of swimming is to get into the water."

I looked over at her and lowered my sunglasses, "Why would I get in there when I can continue to lay here?"

"Good point."

"I know."

"So what would happen if I were to splash said water on you?"

"No. Manny don't."

Her golden head bobbed evilly as she swam her way closer.

"Manny! Go away‼"

Her hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me into the damned pool. The water was wet and cold and horrid, I took one look at her and frowned, "You are so dead."

"AH! I'M SORRY‼"

"Girls, over here," my mother looked over the fence with a worried frown, she was fiddling with her keys in a distracted yet motherly fashion like normal, "I need you to go inside and lock yourselves in."

"Oh mum not again…"

Mum folded her arms with a scowl, she can be so annoying at time, "Yes again, you know about people vanishing off the streets never to be seen again and I'll be damned if my daughter and her friend become a statistic because I left them unprotected, half naked, by the pool. Get inside now!"

"We're swimming."

"One…two…"

"Alright!" I gave up; there is just no arguing with my mother unless you want a good kick up the ass. I quickly wrapped myself up in a towel and dragged Manny along behind me, not daring to look at the one I call mother until I could wave to her safely behind some nice glass. She sped away once believing that we were safely trapped inside, I think that she's just overreacting to the lies the media is spreading at the moment. I flopped onto the couch and removed the towel, it was way too hot to wear a lot of clothing anyways, "So what do you want to do now?"

Manny sat on the floor and began to dry out her long hair, "I want to go back in the pool, but orders are to stay here aren't they?"

"Yuppies. I swear that she is freaking out over nothing like usual, seriously people don't just disappear."

"Mothers are all the same, they see that something happened to some girls and suddenly we all have to take two self-defence classes at school and we still can't go anywhere without body guards."

"We can't win at all."

"It's cause we're girls isn't it?"

"Yeah, see if we had penises we wouldn't be having this problem."

We laughed together, being idiots being the only thing that distracted us from the dying heat and the knock on the door. Oh! Someone's at the door.

"Hold on Manny," I dived to the door and checked through the peep hole, it was just an old man, I quickly opened it but only enough to pop my head out, "Hello?"

He smiled warmly; it was such a cute old man smile, "Mind if I have some water? It is awfully hot outside today."

"Of course," I opened the door fully and let him in, after all what could an old man do to two healthy, self-defence class taking seventeen year old girls?

"Thank you; you are such a kind child."

* * *

"Who was-" I was cut short as Elishia returned with an old man in tow. "Um…hi there."

"The kitchen is through here." She explained as she led him through the house.

"Thank you so much, you are too kind."

I pulled her aside, "what the hell is this? Your mum locked us inside for a reason and now you just let strange men in the house?"

"He's just an old man, and all he wanted was a glass of water, I couldn't turn him away he looked like he was about to faint."

He _did_ look pretty worn-out. I was still cautious but I shrugged it off, what could one harmless old man do against two strong teenagers?

Elishia may be small and slim but she was strong and had a tough attitude, she had soft brown hair that fell in waves down her back and brown eyes that were always sparkling with excitement.

As for me, I was a lot taller, and my blonde hair was longer, but my blue eyes shared in her excitement, at least most of the time. Right now I was cautious of this stranger and cursing Elishia in my head for being so stupid as to let him in. Though we were both slim girls, between us, I think we could take this old man.

He came back into the lounge with a glass of water in his hand. "Thank you again, I'm sorry if I have inconvenienced you."

"No problem." Elishia replied with a smile.

I didn't like the way he was looking at us, so I wrapped a towel around my waist and threw the other one over Elishia's head, she scowled at me.

"So what are two lovely young girls doing inside on a hot day like this?"

"Well we _were _swimming, but my mum didn't want us outside unsupervised, I'm sure you've heard about the disappearances." Elishia explained

"Oh I have, your mother is a smart women. You girls should be careful."

"We're fine, we've been taking self-defence lessons at school."

"The kidnapper could be anyone you know, you shouldn't be so trusting."

I didn't like the way his voice changed and took a step back, grabbing Elishia's arm.

"What do you mean?" she asked shrugging me off with ease.

"I mean you girls should have been much more cautious."

"I think you should leave." I said, "I'm sorry to sound so rude but… I really think you should go now."

Elishia looked at me, confused. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back again. "I'm sorry, could you please go now?"

"At least this one was a bit more cautious." He said, more to himself than to us. "I think you were the quickest one to realise."

I stared at him in horror, then quickly scanned the room, and my heart sunk when I realised he was blocking not only the door, but also the phone. _I got to keep him talking_

"I was actually just cautious at first, but you've pretty much confirmed it now."

"Too bad it's too late."

Elishia stared between us, "Wait… do you..?"

_Finally, she's grasped on._

"Do you two know each other or something?"

My head fell forward into my hand

"No you idiot, he's the-" my sentence was cut short as he jumped forward, one hand reaching for my throat while the other drew a sword from the folds in his loose fitting clothing.

I screamed and jumped back, but he was too quick and already had a hold on me and the blade was at my neck.

"Elishia run!"

She had been pushed back in the commotion and tried to run to my aid but couldn't move, I realised too late that she was pinned to the floor under her towel by small knives.

She wriggled out from under the towel and stood to face our attacker.

"You're the kidnapper guy?!" she exclaimed

"Elishia, just leave, go get help." _I'll smack her later._

"Move and I'll kill her." He hissed, the blade pressing deeper into my throat. I winced as he broke the skin and a small bead of blood rolled down my neck.

"No, don't hurt her." She said. "What is it you want? Why are you doing this?"

"You're both going to come with me."

"Why should we?" she demanded.

"Because I can either take you both alive or kill this one and then just take you."

Elishia looked terrified, she took a deep breath and said. "Ok, then. I'll go with you."

"No-"

"Shut up Manny, this way we both live."

"Ok then girls, let's go."


	2. Escape

I awoke in darkness with both my hands tied behind my back, it was night and through a small window, I could see the moon behind the clouds. I looked around and could make out Elishia's outline, I could see she was also tied up. My head throbbed where I had been hit, you would have thought there would be less violent ways to knock out a person.

"Are you ok?" she whispered, once she realised I was awake.

"I'm fine. How about you?"

"Could be better."

I twisted around so I was sitting upright, "do you think if I move over so we're back to back, you could untie my ropes?"

"Might as well try it."

As I shimmied over to her I realised I was wearing some sort of plastic hospital gown, I ignored this fact while she twisted around, then started untying my ropes.

Suddenly I felt something brush up against my hand.

"What was that?" I whispered.

"What was what?"

"I felt something…"

"What?"

"I don't know, it felt… fluffy."

"Fluffy?"

"Yeah, like a- Ah! I felt it again!" I screamed as the fluffy thing brushed against the back of my leg.

"Sit still." I whispered, I heard a soft swooshing sound and then felt the thing again. This time I grabbed it with my hand and yanked, breaking free of the ropes that bound me and rolling away from Elishia.

"Ow!" I heard her yell

"What? Did it get you?"

"I think so, I think it bit me!"

"What? Where?"

"Uh… on my butt."

"Ouch… But I managed to grab it."

"It's still got me, pull it off!"

I pulled and she cried out in pain.

"Sorry! Ok we need to do this carefully."

The moon emerged from behind the clouds and illuminated the room. We both stood in the centre of a small room, wearing light blue hospital type gowns, both splattered with small amounts of what could only be blood.

I stared at the thing in my hands, it was a soft brown tail, but it didn't belong to a creature, it belonged to Elishia.

I screamed and dropped it.

She looked around and saw the tail protruding from under her gown and screamed too, I noticed the brown cat ears poking out from her head and screamed even louder. I backed away and hit the wall, sending a sharp stabbing pain through my back.

The moon disappeared behind the clouds again and we fell silent as darkness returned.

"You… you're a…" I stammered ignoring the waves of pain from my back.

"What the _hell_ is that thing coming from my butt!"

"It's a tail Elishia, and you… you have cat ears."

"I what?!"

I stepped forward and took a deep breath. "It's ok, we can fix this, turn around and I'll untie you."

After she was free from her ropes her hands immediately shot to her head and I heard her gasp as she discovered her new ears.

I searched the room for a light switch while she tugged on her tail, trying to remove it.

I found the switch and a single dusty bulb swinging from the ceiling lit the room.

Elishia's face was one of horror.

"It's ok, maybe they'll come off."

"I've tried pulling on them, they feel like an actual part of me, and look." She said as her tail flicked back and forth. "I can actually move and control it like my own limbs."

"Let me see."

"I'm not showing you my butt."

"I meant your ears idiot."

I examined the cat ears on her head and saw that they were fully fused with her skin. I clicked my fingers and her ears swivelled round to the noise.

"You heard that?"

"Of course I heard it."

"Ok, well I'm no doctor but those ears are definitely stuck to you, and must be connected to your nerves and brain too. It's probably the same with your tail."

"But how?"

"I don't know but we can figure this out."

"Why is there nothing wrong with you? My butt hurts and I have a huge headache, this is so unfair."

"Well I have an almost slit throat and my back is killing me if that makes you feel better."

She slumped on the floor. "It kinda does."

I laughed, and sat down next to her. "We'll sort this out, I promise. But first, we need to get out of here."

"Agreed."

"Do you think we could climb out that window? It's a bit small but we might fit."

"Might as well try."

The window was too high to reach so I gave Elishia a boost and she leapt up and grabbed the sill, swinging her body gracefully over until she was sitting up there, then she reached down and pulled me up.

She leapt out the window and out onto the grass below, I however, was a lot less graceful and once I had finished squirming through, I fell to the ground with a thud, and groaned as the pain in my back exploded throughout my body.

"Quiet. The kidnapper guy might hear us." She whispered.

"Sorry that I couldn't crash to the ground silently." I retorted from where I lay on the ground, the pain in my back was becoming unbearable.

"We're out, but what do we do now? Where are we?"

I looked around. We were in the middle of a forest, the building we had just escaped was isolated and over ridden with vines, obviously it had not been used in a long time. In the distance I heard rushing water.

"We should get as far away from here as possible" I answered. "I can hear water, we'll head towards that. If it's a river then we can follow it."

"Good idea." She answered, she seemed relieved that we had some sort of plan. "Let's go before that guy decides to turn you into a dog."

She lifted me to my feet and put her arm around me.

"What's that?"

"Huh?"

"You're back."

"What's wrong with my back?"

"I don't know, it feels bumpy."

I froze; my back had been hurting, had he done some weird experiment on me as well?"

I gulped and reached around to feel my back, I realised that my entire torso was bandaged under the hospital gown, and there were two moderately sized bumps under the bandages just where my shoulder blades where. I gasped, but couldn't let Elishia see how freaked out I was, otherwise, she would feel worse about her ears and tail.

"Leave it for now. Like I said, first we need to get out of here."

She nodded and we walked into the forest without looking back.

* * *

"I can't wait, the village is just a couple days' trip away."

"You're always so rambunctious Naruto, you need to learn to control yourself."

"Whatever Pervy Sage."

"How many times do I have to tell you, stop calling me that?"

Naruto laughed loudly at his pouting teacher, "Stop 'researching' for those boring books and I will."

"Like a kid would understand the complexity and maturity in any of my books."

"Like you're so mature."

"Of course I am."

"Then why do you have bird crap on your shirt?"

"WAH?!" Jiraiya stopped walking and looked at what Naruto had seen, the white patch still freshly shining in the sunlight, "where's a river or something…"

He wandered straight into the woods, Naruto laughing as he followed along behind, and headed towards the sounds of rushing water, he needed to clean his shirt immediately. The river wasn't hard to find and the Senin quickly dove in to wash off the bird excretion since he couldn't be bothered taking his shirt off. After wadding around a bit he finally got back on shore and lay on the soft bank to dry out, "Come on Naruto, take a load off."

Naruto dropped his bag to the ground and used it as a pillow, "I can't wait to get back to the village, the first thing I'm going to do is great a bowl of Ichiraku ramen."

"Why aren't I surprised?"

"I can't wait to see everyone again, just imagine how much they've all changed."

A small rustle from some bushes stopped the conversation in its tracks, the two leaf shinobi watching as two teen girls stumbled out in hospital gowns and bandages. The taller of the two looking half dead and being held up by the shorter one with cat ears and tail. The girls took one look at them and started screaming, they tried to run back but fell over into the bushes and got stuck. Naruto quickly ran over and pulled them out, they scuttled backwards into another tree and sat shaking at him, the blonde looked him up and down quickly before whispering, "Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yeah, have we meet before?"

"Holy shit!"

"You're not supposed to be real. WAIT‼" the brunette with a tail shifted behind the blonde as her voice grew quieter and quieter, "does this mean you won the war…?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"He doesn't know?"

"I don't think so…" the blonde looked around the tree then bounced back with a squeak, "Jiraiya is alive. I thought Pein killed him."

"So did I."

"Why is he lying there?"

"I don't know."

"Manny I'm scared."

"It's okay Twigg."

Naruto only caught parts of the conversation but it still caused him concern, "Hold on, who are you guys?"

"I'm going to throw up."

"Me too."

They turned away from each other and let the nasty substances in their body spill out onto the forest floor, their skin growing twice as pale. Naruto made a couple of clones and scooped up the still shaking girls, he took them back to his Sensei and gave a questioning look. Jiraiya took a quick look over them and got up, "We'll take them back to the village and get Tsunade to have a look at them. Hopefully we can find out some more information out along the way."


	3. Questions

I awoke in a daze. My back throbbed with a dull ache, and my head was still hurting. I sat up and looked around, I was alone, in what appeared to be a hospital. I stepped off the bed and went to the window.

_How did I get here? What's going on?_

I looked out onto the village below. It seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn't place it. It wasn't until I noticed the large cliff face with the Hokage's faces carved into it when I jumped back in surprise.

"What the?"

"Oh good, you're awake. Though you shouldn't be out of bed."

I spun around to see a women standing at the door. She had blonde hair and wore a green jacket over a grey singlet and a small red diamond in the centre of her forehead.

"You're… you're Lady Tsunade."

"Oh, so you know who I am, I guess I can skip the introduction then. But who are you?"

"I'm… I shouldn't even be here. This is impossible." I couldn't believe what was happening.

"I thought it was a dream… this can't be possible, how is this possible, I must be dreaming." I mumbled to myself. I shook my head, trying to clear it.

"Are you ok?" Tsunade asked, a worried look creeping across her face.

"You're Lady Tsunade right?"

"I am."

"The Hokage of the Leaf Village."

"Yes."

"A ninja village. And…and Naruto…he was…he is real?"

She looked confused. "Yes he's real, he's the one who brought you here along with Master Jiraiya, why do you think he wasn't? Were you hallucinating?"

She came over and placed a hand on my forehead. I flinched at her touch.

"I felt that." I mumbled. "This is real."

"You're not making sense." She guided me back to the bed. "You need more rest."

"Twiggy!" I shouted, "Where is she? Where's my friend?"

"Relax, your friend is fine, she is in the room next door. But she is still unconscious."

"She's ok?"

"Absolutely fine."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now do you want to explain to me what happened to you? You and your friend have some very interesting uh… appendages."

I looked down and saw that my bandages had been replaced.

"You mean I was changed to?" I groaned. "What did he do? What did the bastard do to me?"

She looked rather taken aback by my sudden change of attitude.

"What did he do to me?"

"This might be a shock to you so you need to calm down."

I took a deep breath and stepped out of bed again. She didn't try to stop me as I pushed past her to the bathroom and carefully unwrapped the bandages from around my torso.

The wrapping fell to the floor and I gasped in shock as I saw two white feathered wings unfold from my back, the dull throbbing stopped once they were free, I stared in shock. I slowly reached a hand around and touched one, and I could _feel_ it being touched. And without even thinking about it, I could move them. I spread them out and curled them back in. This was crazy, there was no way this was true.

I leapt to the toilet and threw up, Tsunade rushed in and held my hair back. When I was done I let her rewrapped the bandages around me, and then we went back into the hospital room and sat down while she gave me a glass of water.

"Tsunade? Can you… I mean, can this be undone?" I asked hopefully, Tsunade was a great medical ninja, if anyone could fix this, she could.

"I'm afraid not. Not by me anyway. The only person who can undo this is the person who did it. It seems they used chakra to attach the wings to your spinal cord and your nerve endings, your muscles are also fused. He must have used a very intricate and specific jutsu to accomplish this."

I slumped, the only way to return to normal is to go back to that creep.

"Now this may be hard for you, but I need you to tell me everything."

"I'll try, but you're probably not going to believe me."

I told her the whole story, how we were kidnapped, knocked out and then surgically experimented on, and then the escape. It was hard enough explaining that we were from some other world, so I decided not to mention that where we are from Naruto was a popular Anime that Twiggy and I were obsessed with.

As soon as I was finished explaining I asked to see Elishia, Tsunade sighed.

"You should be resting, but I guess you can see her quickly. She's in the room next door. There are some proper pyjamas in the bottom drawer if you want to change out of the hospital gown."

"Thank you."

She smiled and left while I changed. I slid the top loosely over my bandages and then left my room and went next door.

Figuring that she was still asleep, I entered quietly and shut the door behind me.

"Hello, and who are you?"

I froze at the familiar voice, and turned around to see Lee staring at me from the hospital bed.

"Lee?"

"So I see that you know me, but I do not recognize you, have we encountered each other previously?"

"Oh, uh no. we haven't, sorry, I must have the wrong room."

I quickly left the confused looking Lee and hurried to the other room next to mine. I burst in and saw Elishia lying in bed, looking dazed and confused.

"Twiggy!" I ran and hugged her, so glad to see that she was ok.

"Manny? Where are we?"

"In hospital."

"Ok…why?"

"Did you have a weird dream about getting kidnapped and being turned into a cat?"

She stared at me. "How did you know that?"

"It wasn't a dream Twigg. That actually happened."

"You mean…" she reached up and felt the ears perched atop her head and groaned. "So I really am a cat. Terrific."

"Yeah… that's not all."

"Huh?"

"We kinda somehow ended up in the world of Naruto."

She laughed. "Ok, what?"

"Yeah, we've already met Naruto. And Jiraiya, and I've met Lady Tsunade."

"You're joking."

"I wish I was."

"But…that's not possible."

"I have no idea how it happened, but it did. Listen, I've explained everything to Tsunade, she'll help us fix this."

"She can turn us back to normal?"

"Well…no. Only _he_ can. Apparently he used some kind of jutsu or something to do this, I don't know, I don't think Tsunade knows either."

She sighed, then noticed my bandages.

"Wait! Your back? What was wrong with it?"

I hesitated, "He did it to me too Twigg. God knows why he would do something like this, but he did."

"What did he do to you?"

I slipped out of the pyjama top and pulled down the top of the bandages at my back so my wings could slide free without me removing them completely.

Twiggy gasped, then reached out and touched one, I shifted them and she withdrew her hand.

"You…you have wings."

"I know. Why the hell would someone do this to us? Do you think there are other kids from our world running around here like half bred animal mutants? And the worst part is that we are miles from home in a whole other _world_ and…why are you laughing?"

"This is so outrageous that I don't believe it. I'm probably dreaming."

"You're not dreaming Twigg. God I wish this was a dream."

"Even so, despite the whole kidnapping and experimental animal-human surgery performed on us against our will. This is actually kinda cool."

I stared at her.

"I mean, come on. You have wings. _Wings._ And I have a tail which is actually very soft. Plus I can hear heaps of stuff and I was able to jump out that window like a real cat."

"How many drugs have they given you?" I asked.

She laughed. "I don't know, lots I think. My tail and ears weren't bandaged like your wings so they weren't protected from infection. I'm all good now though." She smiled

"You should probably sleep now." I said

"Yay."

I laughed as she lay down and mumbled something about being the best alley cat ever. I pulled her blankets up and then went back to my room where I collapsed onto my bed and instantly fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up a few hours after Manny had come to visit me, my tail began to wag with new found excitement as what happened finally set into my head. I'm in an Anime. I slid off my hospital bed and scuttled out of the room, opening the one next door to see Manny still sleeping so I decided to jump on her and wake her.

"AHHHHH‼‼"

"ELISHIA! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"REBECCA! SEE I CAN DO IT TOO‼"

"My back is killing me…"

Oh right, the wings.

"Sorry, I forgot," I sat opposite her and looked out the window, "but I did remember something uber important."

"Like what?"

"Well, Jiraiya is alive right?"

"Right."

"And he and Naruto just came back to the village right?"

"What's your point Twigg?"

"This is the start of Shippuden," I bounced on her bed, how could she not see this? "Itachi hasn't died yet, nor any of the Akatsuki. These guys don't even know who the Akatsuki are. The village hasn't been attacked, the war hasn't started, Obito hasn't revealed himself…Manny, we can change the entire story line because we know what is going to happen‼ We can save lives‼"

"What makes you think they're going to believe us?"

She can be so naïve at times, "We can warn them that Gaara is going to be kidnapped from his village, Kankuro will be on the brink of death but is saved by Sakura, and we can tell them where the hideout is. We can tell them names before they even meet."

"I don't know whether to call you stupid or a genius. I feel bad about Gaara having to die though."

"Why is my brother dying?"

"Oh shit."

Temari walked in with the troupe at her heels, the newly formed Team Kakashi and Shikamaru joining her, "Answer me, why would you say something like that?"

I found myself lost for all words but, "Yeah Manny, why would you say something like that?"

"Manny?"

Manny gave me a quick glare before looking back to the staunch kunoichi, "My real name is Rebecca Mansfield, so Twigg calls me Manny. She's Elishia Ward but I call her Twigg because no matter how much she eats she doesn't get any damn bigger."

"Tell us more about yourself," Kakashi questioned further as a distraction from us telling Temari her brother was about to die, "dreams, aspirations and such."

"Well I'm not really comfortable talking about it with you."

"Okay then, what about you Elishia was it?"

"Me well…" I don't know how long I've been dying to do this but the opportunity is here so I will take it, "I, I want to be the very best, like no one ever was. To catch them is my real test while to train them is my cause."

Shikamaru just stared at me, "What?"

"Look, I will travel across the land just searching far and wide. To teach Pokémon to understand the power that's inside."

"Pokémon, what is that?"

"It's you and me, you know it's my destiny."

Manny bit her lip to stop her laughter from being audible, I kept a straight face while Sakura questioned further, "Pokémon?"

"Oh, you're my best friend in this world that we must defend."

"But Pokémon, tell us what it is."

"When your heart's so true, our courage will pull us through. Tell you what, if you teach me then I'll teach you. Pokémon, you gotta catch them all."

"Catch them all?"

"POKEMON‼"

"What the hell just happened?"

"HAHAHAHA‼" Manny had tears rolling down her cheeks as she held her sides in laughter, "Twigg, you're amazing‼"

"I know I am."

"Enough‼" Temari stormed forwards and grabbed my gown, I didn't like the way it was shifting upwards, "Why did you say my brother was going to die?"

* * *

"Tell me you cat eared freak." Temari spat, "Why would you say something like that."

"Temari calm down." Shikamaru said.

She backed off, still glaring at Elishia.

I stepped between them, "She didn't mean to upset anyone, we actually want to help."

"Yeah, so we should probably go save Gaara now, you know, before he dies."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Elishia. Shut up." I snapped at her.

"But we need to go now."

I pulled her aside, "Listen, we probably shouldn't tell them that Naruto is a show, it will just freak them out, and we need to be careful about how much we say we know."

"But… Gaara's going to… don't you care?"

"Of course I do, things are obviously not going to run their normal course now that we've shown up, but we can't just barge in and order everyone around."

She sighed, "I guess you're right."

We turned back to the group to see them staring at us..

"What's up with your ears?" Naruto asked.

"Forget her stupid ears, why did she say Gaara was going to die?" Temari demanded.

"Listen," I said loudly "Gaara is in trouble, a group of ninja called the Akatsuki are going to attack him, they may be doing so as we speak."

"How do you know this?" Kakashi asked.

"That's not important right now, what is important is that we get to the Sand Village right away, or else Gaara will be kidnapped and Kankuro will probably do something stupid to get him back."

Temari glared at us. "Why should we trust you?"

"Why would we lie about something like this?!" Twiggy exclaimed

"Several reasons." Kakashi answered, "you could be trying to clear the Leaf village of our strongest ninja by sending them away to the Hidden Sand."

"We don't have time to argue about this! We have to go now!"

"I'm going." Temari spoke up. "I don't care if they're lying or not, I'm going."

"If Gaara's in trouble then I'm going too." Naruto spoke up

"And me." Sakura added.

Kakashi sighed, "I guess we're going then. I better go inform Lady Tsunade."


	4. Retrival

**A.N. Before we forget, we don't own Naruto! And we are very open to suggestions from everyone so please feel free to PM or review your ideas for us )it helps with writer's block.**

* * *

"Gah!"

"Hey, don't cling so tight."

"Sorry," I mumbled to Naruto, they were just moving so fast and it was hard not to get scared that I was going to fall off. I looked over at Rebecca who looked equally as uncomfortable on Kakashi, the only amusing factor being she wore Ino's old clothes while I wore Sakura's, _yay for cosplay_.

"Relax. We're professionals at this so you girls have nothing to worry about," Kakashi sounded comforting but looked determined, maybe he wasn't lying, "we'll be reaching the desert any minute now and we can see if what you told us is true."

Temari visibly clenched her fists but kept her head up, "If what they said is true then we're already too late for Gaara, we won't be able to save him."

"That's not true," Manny answered, "we did say that Gaara was supposed to die but technically Naruto was meant to be arriving in the village a couple days later, and therefore you all left a couple days later. Going by the times that we saw Deidara and Sasori should be fighting Kankuro right now."

"I'm still unsure about this."

"Manny if you're going to explain, explain in right," I love knowing stuff others don't, "Gaara doesn't technically die until three days after Deidara beats his ass. The Akatsuki have to extract his one tail first before he actually dies, if we catch them before then no one dies."

"You're positive?"

"Well, if no one fights then no one dies right?"

"I guess so."

"So yeah, we stop them from leaving and all your problems are solved." I am such a genius.

Sakura looked back at me with a frown, "What if we can't stop them?"

_Why the hell is she such a freaking down buzz?_ "Are you saying that you don't think that the four of you can take care of two Akatsuki member, who we have given information about and have been fighting today so will have some sort a fatigue? Well Sakura?"

"I find you infuriating."

"You're not infuriated with me, you're just jealous."

"Of what?! Your stupid ears and tail?"

"Yes and the fact I'm currently way more important than you."

"You said that if Kankuro fights then he dies without my help."

"But if we get there before then then you're back to being useless."

"Girls enough, we have a very serious situation at hand and we don't need to be fighting," Kakashi quickly took control of everyone as the endless sand came into view, "We're at the desert which means that we could be coming across the Akatsuki duo at any time now. Elishia, Rebecca, once we see the enemy I want you two to drop back and hide, stay out of the battle and stay out of our way. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Kakashi."

"We'll stay out of the way."

"Good, cause here's where we leave you."

Three figures drifted slowly out the horizon, one short and stubby, one tall and proud and one hovering in the air. I think they noticed us as well, mainly because they quickly tried to change course which of course didn't work since Naruto flipped and chased after them. Rebecca and I stayed ducked down behind the bush as the shinobi ran off, then she hit me in the arm and pointed at the group, "They're coming this way."

"Oh, shit…"

The Akatsuki had made clones to distract the shinobi group while the real ones were coming at a really fast pace, towards us, and we had no idea what to do about it. We couldn't just let them get away, we were trying to save lives. They spotted us but kept moving, the only thing I could think to say before they were out of earshot as a really bad idea but it was the only idea I had, "IF YOU RUN AWAY NOW YOU ARE BOTH GOING TO GET KILLED‼"

That was enough to make them stop and look back at us, and they were so not happy about what I just said. I swallowed my fear and hid behind Manny, after all she was bigger, and continued to speak to them, "Sasori is going to get killed by Sakura and Lady Chiyo while Deidara will be killed by Sasuke. So yeah…" they loomed over us, I could see the unconscious Kage on the bird just floating behind Deidara, "…please don't kill us."

Deidara pulled Rebecca up by the scruff of her shirt and looked her over carefully, grunting in displeasure at her face, "Who the hell are you un?"

"I-I-I'm Rebecca," she stuttered understandably, "we're sorry but we-we-we like you guys and don't want you to die."

I nodded and fell to me knees, all feeling in my legs vanishing, "You don't really know what's going on with the Akatsuki. If you stay with them you'll die, we've seen it."

Sasori's voice was deep and rough, "You saw the future? I say kill them now Deidara before the Leaf shinobi notice."

"I couldn't agree any more un."

"Listen please," Rebecca was starting to panic, but she could still think thankfully, "if you take Gaara with you then the Leaf shinobi will hunt you down. You will also try to capture Naruto but that falls in and Sasori gets killed by two girls. You successfully remove the tailed beast from Gaara but he gets brought back to life by Chiyo, Deidara will lose his other arm to Kakashi and you will meet another member called Tobi. He is really the secret leader of the Akatsuki."

I nodded from the ground as they appeared to be listening, "You think your objective is to capture all the tailed beasts so you have all the power and can take over but Tobi just wants to make himself a Jinchuriki for the ten tailed beast and put everyone under a Genjutsu with the power, everyone is going to die unless you turn against him. We're just trying to help, we have no power and you can kill us in a blink so why would we lie to you?"

Sasori stared at me carefully, it was terrifying, "The cat-girl has a point…"

"Then what do you want to do un?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Well you better hurry, the others appear to be finished un."

They stood completely still for a minute, mumbling to themselves or I think more to Pein cause it looked like they were talking to him. I hope they were talking about not killing us…

"Alright listen brat," I was roughly pulled off the ground and onto Sasori's puppet, I assume by his chakra strings, "we're going to give you the benefit of the doubt but we'll always be watching, if you so much as have told one single lie to us then we will kill you without hesitation. Then again if you're telling the truth we'll be meeting again. Nod if you understand."

I nodded.

"Good, Deidara drop the girl and the Kage. We failed this mission but I have a feeling that we'll be back soon."

Deidara did as ordered, the two then vanished without a sound leaving us with an unconscious body and no idea what to do next. I crawled over to the body and began to gently shake him, hoping that he would wake up and just be okay but it didn't look like that was going to be the case.

"GAARA‼"

Temari came over and knelt beside me, "How the heck did you get him?"

"I have a way with words?"

"It doesn't matter, let's just get to the village and you can explain later."

* * *

"Thanks you guys." Kankuro said from where he lay in his hospital bed. "you really saved our butts back there."

"Of course! That's what we do!" Naruto shouted in his usual loud manner while the rest of us rolled our eyes.

"I guess it's lucky you happened to be stopping by."

"You could say it was luck." Kakashi said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at us.

"Luck? Luck had nothing to do with it!" Naruto exclaimed, putting his arms around us. "These two here warned us, it's thanks to them we made it in time!"

"Really? And how did you two know to warn them?"

I gave Twigg a look, she knew I didn't want to tell them that the only reason we knew what was going to happen was because we had already seen it.

"We uh… overheard some people talking about it?" Twiggy replied.

"Likely story." Kakashi said.

She looked at me, obviously she wanted to explain everything to them. I sighed.

"Ok listen." I said, before Twigg could continue speaking, "Does it really matter how we knew? The point is that we were telling the truth and managed to save several lives."

"Yeah." Naruto agreed.

"Well, I'm sure you realise how we see the situation, for all we know, you knew what would happen because you were part of it, and you only warned us to get in our good books and earn our trust."

"I can see how you would think that but you're just going to have to trust us. There is no way that was a staged attack, Gaara is a strong and powerful ninja. They had him captured, why would they give him up so easily?"

"She has a point." Sakura spoke up.

"Yeah, she has a point." Naruto echoed.

"Well Naruto has decided to trust you, but don't think I will. First I want you to tell me whatever else you know."

Me and Elishia exchanged glances.

"Well, you see the truth is-"

"Sorry, I don't think we can." I interrupted. "Let's just say we knew what would have happened, but now we've changed it so several things won't happen anymore."

"Right…" I could see they were confused.

"But we can tell you one thing that I think you'll be happy to hear."

Elishia gasped, for once we were on the same page.

"Manny shut up."

Or maybe not…

I moved over and turned her around so we could talk kind of privately, "What's wrong?"

"We shouldn't tell them, they're just going to get hurt. I'm telling you that it's a bad idea."

"Look just because you don't like the guy doesn't mean that his friends deserve to know."

"I have good reasoning."

"Like what?"

"HE STARTED A FUCKING WAR," her outburst made the other occupants look over curiously, she blushed lightly then dropped her voice again, "he started a war."

"No that was Tobi."

"Obito."

"Whatever, either way you can't stop me from telling them."

"You'll get it all wrong," she turned around in a huff and folded her arms, "In ten days, no it would be about twelve days now, Sasori is going to be meeting a spy of his at Tenchi Bridge, a spy that is with Orochimaru."

I nodded approvingly, "He'll know all about Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura gasped. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. But the thing is, the spy is actually a traitor and it's a trap to kill Sasori, Orochimaru will probably turn up too.

Elishia grabbed my leg with her tail and yanked it, the falling really hurt, "Anyways there are also several factors that are different, what should've happened; Sasori is very dead, Kakashi is out of action due to using his Sharingan too much, you have a couple of new teammates and neither of you knew that Kabuto is the spy."

"So what do we do?" Naruto looked like he was about to run through the wall and just keep running till he got to Tenchi Bridge, "If we can find Sasuke, then we can bring him back. We bring him back right?"

"I guess that if all the conditions were the same then you would see him, but you have that one tiny factor that could blow up in your face named Sasori. If he shows up then I can't tell you what's going to happen, I can't see the future."

"Then how have you been able to tell us how are lives are going to work?"

"That's complicated."

"Everything is with you two."

* * *

I was standing by the window when Elishia entered my room.

"Manny?"

"Yeah?"

"Will we… I mean, do you think we'll be able to go home?"

"Of course, if we can get here, we can get back."

She looked relieved at that but still worried, "What about our… appendages?" she said, eyeing the large feathered wings sticking out the holes I had made in the back of my pyjamas.

"It's the same thing, if that guy can attach these things to us, then he can un-attach them, and that's exactly what he's going to do as soon as we find him."

I saw her tail twitch. Lately I've been able to read her just by her tails movements, it was actually quite amusing.

"You like the tail don't you?" I said.

"What? No, I mean, it's soft and kinda fun but… yeah. I like the tail."

I laughed. "You can't keep it. What will people say when we get home?"

"The same things people have been saying _here_."

"Hmm, I guess you're right."

"You can't tell me you don't like your wings."

"They aren't wings, they are weird growths on my back, it's not like I can fly or anything."

"Have you tried?"

"Well… no."

"Why don't you?"

"Why should I?"

"Because you have wings, you should use them."

"They probably won't hold my weight."

"Won't know until you try."

"I don't even know _how_ to fly."

"Easy. You jump off a roof and flap."

"Why don't _you_ jump off a roof."

"I don't have wings."

"You're a cat I'm sure you'll land on your feet, and hey, nine lives right?"

She pondered this for a second, then nodded. "Ok."

"What?"

"I said ok, I'm going to test my cat abilities."

"Oh my god. Don't actually jump off a roof, I was joking."

"I'm not, you saw the way I climbed out that window. I'm going to test this thing out."

I stared at her, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Twigg, I know you normally have crazy ideas but this is _insane._"

"It's insane not to."

She seemed to think about it some more, then nodded her head, turned, and walked out the door.

I ran after her just as she reached the stairs.

"Twigg don't."

"I've made up my mind."

I followed her to the roof and watched in horror as she made her way to the edge.

"What if it doesn't work?"

"We're right outside a hospital. I'll be fine."

"Don't be an idiot."

She stepped up onto the railing.

"Seriously Twigg. Step back."

I saw her count to three under her breath.

"Twigg no!" I screamed as she stepped out onto the air. I rushed forward, reaching out over the railing for her hand, but she fell too fast and I stretched too far. Soon, we were both plummeting over the edge.

"You idiot!" I screamed, then without even realising it, my wings opened out and caught the air, I lurched and crashed into the side of the building, desperately scraping one hand along the wall searching for a hold while my other hand clung to the scruff of Elishia's pyjamas.

"You're… choking… me…" she spluttered.

"Well you deserve it." I retorted, as I heaved her up to grab the ledge I was clinging to.

"You… flew…." She said, between breaths.

"No I didn't, I just crashed into a wall."

"I think you did it on impulse, try it again."

"Hell no."

"Too late." She said and pushed me off.

I screamed as I fell, then gasped in amazement as my wings unfolded and I glided to the ground.

I landed just as Elishia let go of the ledge and fell to the ground, landing neatly on her feet.

She grinned at me. "Haha see? I told yo-"

The smile fell from her face when she saw the glare I was giving her.

"I'm going…" I gasped "to kill you."

She turned and ran, I gave chase, ignoring her shouts of "It worked! It worked!"

I'm just glad no one saw that.


	5. Sickness

**A.N. Time to celebrate an end of an era, no more High School for this Twigg. BeccaBandicoot and I are all grown up and we're happy, we are very happy. HAVE A NICE LIFE!**

* * *

I slumped onto my bed, me and Twigg had both been given rooms in the Kazekage's house. That was nice and all, but the amount of thanks that we were getting from Gaara was starting to get annoying, Temari on the other hand, mumbled a quick apology and then nothing more. And then there was the constant harassment from everyone as to how we knew what was going to happen, Sakura kept chasing Twigg around trying to pet her and Naruto kept pestering me about the lump under my shirt on my back.

"No! You can't pet me!" I heard Twigg scream from down the hall, and then moments later she rushed into my room and slammed the door, locking it behind her.

We heard footsteps and then a knock.

"Becca? Uh.. Manny? Are you there? Is Twiggy in there with you?"

Elishia frantically motioned at me, shaking her head and clasping her hands as she pleaded for me to lie.

I considered letting Sakura in, as revenge for Twigg pushing me off a building, at least until I heard Naruto's voice outside the door.

"Hey Sakura, you're a girl. And girls share things right? Do _you_ know what the deal is with that Manny chick?"

We both held our breath and listened as Sakura sighed at Naruto's idiocy.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what's under her shirt? I mean she has those lumps and-."

There was a loud smack that sounded very much like Sakura's fist colliding with his head.

"You pervert!" she yelled.

Twiggy held her hands over her mouth to muffle her laughter as I glared at her.

I motioned to the window and Twigg nodded. We quickly climbed out and ran away as quietly as we could without anyone noticing us.

Once we were a safe distance away we both looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.

"Oh my god that was hilarious!"

"I know! I can't believe Naruto said that! He really is a pervert!"

"He was talking about my wings idiot."

"Oh. Right."

We walked through the sand, glad to be away from the craziness back there.

"What do we do Twigg?" I asked

"Hm? About what?"

"They want answers that I don't think we can give them."

"Meh, we'll just keep winging it. Pun intended."

I rolled my eyes and lay down in the sand while Twigg sat down and began to make a sandcastle.

At least we finally got our day in the sun.

* * *

Am I in a tea house?

I looked around my surroundings, I was pretty sure I was in the desert like two seconds ago so how did I get here? Everyone around me looked pretty happy just drinking their tea, I didn't recognise any of them. I ran my hand through my hair, yup ears and tail still there but now I was wearing a soft green kimono and I don't even know how to put it on so if some sicko changed me I'm gonna kill him. I turned to get out of my chair but a hand calmly pushed me back down.

"Not yet, we still have 72 hours here."

"Itachi?" I cannot believe my eyes, "Itachi Uchiha?"

"I'm not surprised you know who I am," he sat opposite me and after ordering two teas continued with his conversation, "I wouldn't even be surprised if you haven't already realised that we're in my Genjutsu right now. You seem to know a lot about the lives of many around here."

"What do you want?"

"Answers mainly, I could force them out of you but I can't seem to find the want to."

"That's because you're a teddy bear."

"Pardon?"

I smiled at him, "Come on, what you're doing with Sasuke is a really good idea. He'll go back to live a care free life happily after you willingly sacrifice yourself for him. It is such a good idea on paper."

"On paper?"

"Yeah, doesn't really work out like that. He goes crazy with guilt after Madara slash Tobi slash Obito tells him everything," I guess I could try to change the fate of the Uchiha's now, while I'm waiting for my tea, "you kind of screw around and hurt a lot of people by doing that. And I get the fact that you want to set him free of Orochimaru but that's also your fault because he thought the only way to stop you was to go to him."

"I wasn't expecting that."

Tea was placed in front of me, I like this feeling of knowing more than others but from the looks of it Itachi didn't like my smiling face, "What happens to me? How do I die?"

"Sasuke kills you, you smile at him and poke his forehead."

"What happens to him?"

"He basically gets overtaken with guilt, like I said, but instead of going back to the village and fulfilling your dreams for him he chooses to avenge you. He becomes Tobi's lapdog and follows his orders, he even tries to kill his friends but is luckily stopped at the last moment. He loses his Sharingan from overuse but takes your eyes, personally I think that he just becomes a dick."

"Sasuke…"

"I'm really sorry Itachi."

He looked back at me, not bothering to hide his emotions because he knew that I already knew him, "You say that but you can't change destiny."

"We already did, Gaara was meant to have the one tail extracted from him, Sasori was meant to be killed by Chiyo and Sakura and give them information about Orochimaru, Chiyo was meant to bring Gaara back to life and lose her own in the process. Seriously Itachi, I've already messed with destiny and changed it. Your point is invalid."

"You're a strange child."

"What makes you say that?"

"For starters you have cat's ears and tail."

"Move on."

"You are also giving out information that is going to get you killed, Tobi has already issued orders for you and your friend's demise," he looked me over carefully and took a sip from his tea, "I don't see why you are getting yourself involved in things that will only hurt you."

"It's because it's the right thing."

"The right thing?"

"You can't have peace without war, you can't have happiness without hate. You may never be able to get rid of the negative facts of life but I don't see why you can't keep them at arm's length," I love it when what I say actually makes sense and sounds intelligent, "If you could tell Sasuke the truth and help him through it I don't see why you couldn't both go back to the Hidden Leaf Village and just be that family you both obviously want."

"Enough about me," he looked at the table just listening to me but I think something clicked, I hope it was a good thing, as he looked back to my eyes, "Tell me how the rest of the Akatsuki dies."

"I'm sorry?"

"How does the rest of the Akatsuki die?"

"Wow okay, let's see. Sasori; killed by Chiyo and Sakura. Deidara; killed by Sasuke after he hears about Orochimaru's death. Itachi; Sasuke kills him but only cause you let him. Kisame; kills himself to get information about Naruto to Tobi. Kakuzu; Naruto kills him. Hidan; Shikamaru, Naruto's friend, kills him for killing his teacher. Pein; Naruto kills them, and Konohamaru kills one. Nagato; dies of natural causes after Naruto makes him feel good about himself again. Konan; Tobi kills her to get Nagato's Rinnegan. Ah I think that's about it, oh, Orochimaru; Sasuke absorbs him to get his power to kill you. I think that's everyone."

"Well that was in depth."

"You asked man I just answered."

"How do you know all of this?"

"What?!"

"How do you know."

Oh damn, I'm going to sound like an idiot, "You-you won't believe me."

"Try me."

I guess I've always thought of Itachi as an older brother figure, it's probably why I told him everything. How we're from another world, what Naruto is, how we found out about it, everything. All he did was sip his tea and ask the occasional question, other than that he just listened to what I told him. Once I was finished my really, really long explanation Itachi put his cup down and asked me once simple question, "Would you and your friend leave with me?"

Well that was unexpected, "Why? You don't know us at all."

"I know enough, you have nowhere to go or anyone to turn to. What's wrong with coming with me?"

"I don't know you."

"Quite the contrary, you know me better than most."

"Why do you want me to go with you?"

He smirked at me, "I've always wanted a pet."

"Oh funny."

"You know a lot about this world, much more than you should, you're putting yourself in a lot of danger . Both you and your friend are in a lot of trouble and I don't believe that the Leaf shinobi are capable from protecting you from it."

"But why?"

"If you help me with my brother I will be eternally grateful, I would owe you my life."

"I should take a telly of all the lives people owe me, I could have a slave army by the end of all of this."

"I believe that."

"But back to your question, I think I have to refuse," I may not be smart but I'm definitely not as stupid as everyone thinks, "I need to talk to Manny, she's involved in this too."

"Well, we'll always be close by for _when_ you change your mind."

"Okay."

"Now believe it or not but our time is up," he stood from his seat and held out his hand to me, "when you leave this Jutsu you are going to be sick, there is no question about that. You are going to get very sick but it will pass eventually."

"Dandy."

"It is mainly for show, don't tell the others about this."

"You can't stop me."

"True, I can't, do as you please."

The teahouse and all the people suddenly vanished, we were back in the desert like nothing had ever happened. I looked up at Manny, she had a worried look on her face, "Twigg, are you okay?"

"Nope," I fell to the sand and started to throw up, I felt like pure death and it wasn't nice.

* * *

"So your saying you were put in Genjutsu by Itachi… and you told him _everything_?!"

"Uhh… yeah."

I sighed, "Twigg, I thought we agreed _not_ to tell anyone that they were part of a show."

"But we can trust Itachi, we know he's a good guy."

"Naruto and the others are good guys and we haven't told them." I retorted

"Come on Manny you know this is different, Itachi said that-" she paused as her face turned green, then she turned over and threw up again.

"Ok, we'll get you back to the hospital now and talk about this later."

When we returned to the house Sakura came running up to us as soon as we entered the front door. I held my hand up and she froze as Twigg threw up again. "What happened?" she said, immediately turning on her medic ninja mode, and placing a hand on her forehead.

"Uhh… I think she ate something bad." I said, as Twigg couldn't reply because her mouth was busy while she was emptying the contents of her stomach.

Gaara entered at that moment and his face fell as he saw Twigg.

"Are you ok? What happened?"

"We don't know, we have to get her to the emergency room right away."

Me and Gaara waited outside while Sakura diagnosed Twigg.

"I'm so sorry, this shouldn't have happened."

"Stop apologizing, it's not your fault."

"She was my guest."

"There was nothing you could have done to prevent this."

"But after you two saved my life-"

"Seriously. I know you're the Kazekage and I should probably stop telling you what to do but just stop it. This wasn't your fault and she'll be fine, just… chill."

He opened his mouth to say something more but then seemed to change his mind.

I smiled, "Trust me, she'll be just fine."

Sakura came out and wiped her brow.

"Well I can't find out what caused this, it wasn't food poisoning. Has she been in contact with anything or anyone that might seem suspicious or strange?"

"Uuuh… not that I know of." _Technically, Itachi isn't suspicious or strange._

"Hmm… well I can't figure it out, it's almost like her mind is sick, her body seems fine."

"Oh, that's… weird."

"Will she be alright?" Gaara asked

"Should be, she just needs to get it out of her system."

"Sakura? What are you going to do about the meeting at the Tenchi bridge?"

She looked worried. "I want to go, of course I do. You were right about Gaara's capture and I'm sure you're right about his, but it's dangerous and we need to be prepared which is why I wanted to ask you... I mean we were going to ask _both_ of you but now-"

"Hey Manny!" Naruto yelled from down the corridor, interrupting Sakura

He ran up to us and put a hand on my back, "How are you?"

I ducked under his arm and leant against the wall laughing, it was kinda fun teasing him. "I'm fine."

"So you don't have the illness that Twigg has? Even though you two are together all the time?"

"Nope. Fit as a fiddle."

"Great, so I guess you're coming with us to the bridge then."

"I'm what?"

"Oh. Didn't…?"

"No Naruto, I was just about to ask her." Sakura said angrily,

"You wanted us to come to the bridge with you?"

"Of course, you know what's going on, you'd be invaluable on a mission like this." Sakura said

"Who's going to look after Twigg? I can't leave her."

"Don't worry, there are plenty of medics here and Lady Tsunade sent over some more ninja from the Hidden Leaf to assist."

"Well…"

"Oh come on Manny." Naruto said.

I thought about it some more, _I would be helpful to them, if only a little, and I'll be able to warn Sasori about Orochimaru._ "Ok fine. I'll go with you guys."

"Yes! We're leaving in an hour."

"What?!"

Sakura shrugged, "You know how keen Naruto is, besides, we have to get to the Hidden Leaf before we leave for this mission."

I sighed "Ok, I'll just say goodbye to Twigg." I said as I entered her room to see her lying on the bed, completely out of it.

"She's unconscious." Sakura said.

"I see that."

"Sorry."

I sighed, again. "It's fine, I'll just leave her a message."

I quickly wrote down what was happening on a scrap of paper and left it on her bedside table, then went to my room and gathered some spare clothes and extra bandages, my wings were healed, but I still liked to strap them in under my shirt so they would be out of the way.

Once I was ready to go, I meet up with Sakura, and Naruto at the gate.

Gaara was also there to see us off.

"Take care of Twigg for me while I'm gone ok?" I instructed.

"Of course, good luck on your mission."

We waited around a bit more for Kakashi to turn up and then left for the Hidden leaf, I wasn't exactly as quick as them and had to ride on Kakashi's back.

_I hope I'm more of a help than a hindrance._

* * *

"_They're going back? No, one is missing."_

_Kisame watched just as carefully as his partner, "The cat girl seems to have been left behind, it wouldn't happen to be because of the Jutsu you placed on her would it?"_

"_Perhaps."_

"_So now you are trying to separate them. I have to say that I'm confused about it."_

"_This so they can stay safe, too much suspicion on their part could risk them getting injured."_

"_And we don't want that."_

"_It would be a hassle, I don't like hassles."_

_The great fish man of the Akatsuki shifted his sword over and leaned comfortably on it, "I guess so but do we stay here or follow them?"_

"_I'm staying here, I need to keep an eye on Elishia just in case Madara sends others. Orders are to keep her safe and I intend to do it."_

"_So we stay until something happens?"_

"_Would you rather chase the nine tailed Jinchuriki and change destiny once more?"_

"_Not any more than you do."_


	6. The Bridge

Why is it so hot? I feel like I'm burning from the inside out. I need to get the stupid blanket off me…

NO. NO. NO. NO.

I pulled the thin sheet back over me with a painful shiver, that was so goddamned cold it wasn't funny. Not funny at all. Why is it so cold out there but so hot in here? Oh right, Itachi made me sick. Stupid jerk, I thought he was the nice one.

And all this thinking is making me want to throw up.

I spotted the bathroom just a few metres away from my bed, I need to get to it but it just looks like so much effort. I wrapped the sheet around me and managed to shuffle my way over only to drop it in the doorway and sprint to the toilet as the puke came up once more. It burns so much and smells so bad.

Ew.

It looks gross too.

Slowly pulling away from the bowl to let it flush I wiped my mouth clean of stray particles, but that didn't last long as I continued to 'talk to the porcelain bowl' as my mum would put it. I think I'm going to be here a while. Heat began to fill my body once more only to have cold hand brush across my cheeks, pulling my hair out of the throw up's disgusting path. Whoever it was didn't seem to mind sitting back and waiting as I barfed my brains out, which seemed to take longer the more they stayed there.

_Please don't be anyone cool_…

"Are you feeling better now Elishia?"

_Aw man…_

"I'm fine Lord Kazekage really, I just ate something bad," I pulled my hair out of his hands, this is one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, "please don't worry about me."

"I am going to, you saved my life and I owe you for that."

"Ugh, please take a break from that. I get you're grateful and everything but you don't owe us, you were going to come back to life anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated."

"I have time," he easily picked me up and carried me all the way back to my bed, picking the discarded sheet up along the way. He listened carefully as I retold the tale of his demise, the fight between Sasori and the two kunoichi, Naruto flipping out about his death, Chiyo's decision, and finally when heaps of shinobi show up for him and their moment silence for her. He nodded calmly at the end of it all, "Well that was in depth."

"You are the second person to tell me that…"

"What?"

"Never mind," his reaction was unreadable, "but do you understand that you really don't owe us anything, basically the only thing we managed to do was stop Chiyo from dying. Oh! And Sasori isn't dead now."

"You give yourself too little credit, you did more than you know."

"Yeah well you give me a little too much."

"It never hurts to praise one for doing good," he had a small knowing smile that I still couldn't read which was slightly annoying, "besides now I feel that I owe you more for so willingly sharing all this information with me. You could've just gone straight to the Akatsuki but instead you chose to come here."

"You're the good guys, why wouldn't I come here?"

"The choice was your own, therefore we owe you."

"It was Manny's choice too."

"And we owe her also."

I had to laugh, it sounded forced but it wasn't, "If you think I'm bad with accepting thanks then try it with her. She is horrible with taking in thanks."

"I know, she's already told me to 'chill'."

"She didn't…I'm so sorry, we need to show you more respect now that we're here, I'm just so sorry."

"Don't be, it's fine."

"I'm sure others don't speak to you that way."

"It's a nice change, I feel normal when you treat me like a normal person."

"Well you are, and if you wanted to be treated that way then you will be," I have no problem with complying to those wishes, "now get the hell out of my room so I can curl up in a ball and die. By the way that was sarcasm so don't freak out."

He chuckled lightly, like a normal person would at my awesome joke, "Okay, okay. Get some rest and I'll come back to check on you later, as a friend."

"Just a friend?"

"Just a friend."

"I can accept that."

* * *

"Ok so we know the plan?" Kakashi asked

"Sure." Sakura agreed.

"Yup." Naruto added.

"Uuuh…"

Kakashi sighed, "What is it Rebecca?"

"Well I told you that the circumstances are much different know, I mean, you're here for one instead of Yamato and I'm here instead of Sai, _and_ Sasori's alive. Everything is different now."

"Yes but the beginning should still be the same." Sakura said

"I know but…I'm just saying."

"Relax" Kakashi said, "We have the upper hand, we know that Orochimaru will show up after Kabuto tries to kill Sasori. That was meant to be unknown to us, we're prepared."

"Ok, I guess you're right, though I still don't see why I had to come, I'm not a ninja like you guys."

"You're still important." Kakashi assured, then looked down as a small pug dog burst out of the bushes.

"Sasori is almost at the bridge, as for the spy, he's not far behind, you probably have about 15 minutes before he arrives."

"Thanks Pakun."

"No problem" and then he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Ok, there's not much time, we don't know how long it will take for Manny to convince Sasori of what's about to happen so we have to be quick. Get in your places."

I hoped Sasori had found out that we were telling the truth, if he hadn't by now, then I might be in trouble.

I went down closer to the bridge with Naruto while Kakashi and Sakura waited up in the trees. I had warned Kakashi that Naruto would go into 'beast mode' and he said that it was best not to tell Naruto that, now that Orochimaru's appearance wasn't a surprise, he wouldn't be caught off guard.

"Naruto." I whispered.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Uhh…just be careful, don't lose your cool."

"What? Nothing to worry about, I'm always cool."

I rolled my eyes. "Just don't listen to whatever Orochimaru might say, he'll just taunt you because he knows you want Sasuke back, don't let him get to you."

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"Yeah sure." He looked worried, then brightened as an evil smiled appeared on his face. "If you promise to show me what's under your shirt."

I smacked him over the head.

"Wha-…oh. I meant on your back!" he said rubbing his head. "Now I realise why Sakura got mad at me…"

"No promises, but we'll see." I said, you couldn't help but smile at his idiocy.

We fell silent as Sasori appeared and I took a deep breath before stepping out into view.

"Sasori." I said

He turned to me. "Hmm…it is you again. It seems you do know what is going on."

I sighed in relief, it seemed like he believed us.

"Where is your strange friend with the ears?"

"Oh uhh…she's not here right now. I came to tell you that Kabuto, the spy you're here to meet, is planning to kill you, and Orochimaru will show up as well, you need to get out of here."

"I had feared this, but I will not run. I was planning to kill Kabuto myself once he had given me the information I wanted."

"Listen, we have a plan. Since we seem to have a common goal, why not work together?"

"Very well."

Brilliant, everything was going smoothly, now we just had to wait for Kabuto.

* * *

_How did I not realise this sooner?_

"Where the hell has Manny gone?"

"She left with the Leaf shinobi to go to Tenchi bridge.""

"Why didn't she say goodbye? I thought we were freaky friends."

"She tried to, I was there, you were just unconscious."

"Then why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because you've been in and out of consciousness for the last couple of days."

"You could've woken me up."

"That will only slow your healing process."

"Grrr," damn I even sound like a cat when I growl now, "don't you have paper work or something to do?"

Gaara sat back and put his feet on the bed in a more comfortable position, "I did it all while you were asleep, this way no one should bother me while I am trying to talk to you."

"I get the feeling I should say thank you but I'm kinda mad at you right now for not telling me about Manny leaving."

"It's not my fault you were asleep."

"It's not mine either."

"I know, all I'm saying is you can't be mad at me."

I'm now mad at his stupid logic, "Fine, moving on. Is Temari any happier now?"

"I think so."

"Still doesn't trust us then," I leaned against the wall as he nodded, he's slowly becoming easier to read, "I don't blame her though, if someone came out of nowhere and told me my younger brother was going to die I wouldn't trust them. Even after if we did save his life I wouldn't trust them because of the whole 'how did they know?' thing."

"You have a younger brother?"

"Yup, two years younger in fact. Annoying as hell but I still love him."

"Does he have ears too?"

"Of course, oh you mean the cat ones, no he doesn't."

"So just you then?"

"Yeah, I wasn't born this way you know. I tried to help an old man out and he turned out to be an evil son of a bitch who turned me into half a cat, as you can see, and you're smiling again. This isn't funny Gaara."

"It is a little bit."

"Okay, you have the ears and the tail and see how you like it."

"I'm fine the way I am."

"Then don't laugh at me."

"Or what are you going to do?"

I frowned and crossed my arms, "Just you wait Kazekage, I'll get you back sooner or later."

"You'll have to be able to walk out that door without fainting first," he smirked lightly and nodded at the door he was talking about, "don't think you can either, I saw you trying to do that earlier. It didn't end well."

"You're telling me."

"Have you eaten anything yet?"

"Hell no, every time I so much as smell food I head for the bathroom. If I want a stomach at the end of all this I plan to throw up as little as possible."

"I'm surprised a hair ball hasn't come out yet."

I couldn't help but laugh lightly at his mean comment, "You know, you're surprisingly funny when you want to be."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. You don't get to joke a lot do you?"

"It's a very serious job, that and the elders are a bit old fashioned," Gaara seemed to enjoy finally cutting back and just relaxing like a normal teen, it was really amusing to see, "By the way I want to try something so you're going to have to trust me."

_What the hell could this guy be planning?_ "Okay…"

"Close your eyes."

I followed the order, curiosity getting the better of me always hoping that the saying 'curiosity killed the cat' didn't apply here. It wasn't long until I felt his hand run over my head, scratching right between my ears, a small giggle managed to escape my throat. Wait. That's not a giggle.

"You're purring."

"Am not!" I could feel the blush in my face as a bounced back, a bad idea since moving too fast sometimes made me throw up. Luckily this wasn't one of those times. I smacked his hand away as he tried to pat me again, "If you dare tell anyone about this I am going to be so mad at you. So very, very mad at you."

"We wouldn't want that."

"You suck by the way."

"You purr," he grabbed my tail and gave it a little flick, "like a little kitten. It's adorable."

"Shut up."

"Don't order the Kazekage around."

I stuck my tongue out at him, he laughed, and the door opened. One of his many gofers came in with a small look of panic on his face, "Lord Kazekage we can't find the latest reports for the academy funds for the next semester."

"Alright I'm coming," he got off the bed and gave me a small smile, "I'll be back later to check up on you later pretty kitty."

"You're an ass Gaara."

He gave a small wave and shut the door behind him, leaving me to finally run off the bed and back to my best friend.

The toilet.


	7. Sasori And Itachi

The next time I see that goddamned Uchiha I'm going to destroy him. I know that it's not possible but throwing up for two days straight after being unconscious for nearly a whole week (okay, I may be exaggerating a little bit but the point is still the same) is a bit extreme in my books and is something I believe deserves to be punished. I didn't even get to say goodbye to Manny before they dragged her along to go find Sasuke.

Arrogant no good traitor.

A small swoosh indicated the door opening and I watched a dizzy Ino waltz in with my chart in her hand. She smiled warmly at me, "Are you feeling any better today?"

"Do I look any better? I feel like someone is forever pressing my throw up button."

"So no then? Have you tried eating today?"

"Ugh, I can't even look at food without vomiting. Can't you give me some drugs to make it stop?"

"The only medication I can give you will only increase your vomiting, we want whatever bug that is in you out and this is the only way to do it."

"Yup I'm going to kill him."

Ino shook her head with a small laugh, not knowing who I was talking about, and going over to one of the many cupboards and creating syringe of something for me. I hate needles. She came back to me holding the syringe and a metal bowl, handing the bowl to me, "You're going to need this."

"Great."

I cringed as the point went into my skin, not long after I could feel my stomach churning in the worst of ways. The bowl was so helpful as the green goo spilled from my mouth, sloshing against the metal in the most displeasing sight. Ino kindly took the bowl away to empty after I had finished, obviously she had done this kind of thing before, and turned to look back at me, "Better now?"

"No."

"Don't pout droopy ears, you'll feel better by the end of the day I can promise you that much."

_Why do people keep calling me stupid names like that? _"Hey Ino, how long do you think it will be before the others come back?"

"Don't know, could be a while yet. Besides," she put the bowl and empty syringe on a small tray and sat on my bed, "don't you know everything? That's what I've heard at least."

"I don't know everything I knew something. Now everything is changed and I'm useless to you all."

"Now don't say that, you're very useful."

"How?"

"You make people laugh when they see you."

"I'M NOT FUNNY LOOKING."

"Ino don't tease the pretty kitty," my newest buddy waltzed in without a care in the world, "you'll get her fur in a bunch."

Ino got off the bed with a small laugh, heading to the sink to clean my puke bowl, "Sorry, sorry. I guess that you'll be the one who has to brush it all out."

"Indeed I will be, and it isn't a fun job."

"Oh you both just plain suck."

"And pretty kitty? That's a cute nickname."

Gaara sat on my bed and grabbed his favourite play thing, my tail, "It sort of just popped out one day, is she fine to eat yet?"

"Yes, I think she got it all out of her system now so she should be able to eat without it coming back out five seconds later."

_Am I invisible?_

"Good, that means we can have this," he pulled out a couple of small boxes, "instead of me eating it outside the room."

"Oh? Such a cute little date."

"I get it," my throat hurts and they're making fun of me, I'm in no mood, "you're the kind of person who thinks that boy and girls can't just be friends. I see now."

She was not amused, "You don't have to get all snippy with me just because you don't feel well. Be considerate."

"Bite me."

"Fine, I'll leave then."

She stormed out leaving Gaara to frown at me, "That was uncalled for."

"Well she was being stupid," I sighed when I saw his judging eyes, "I don't like being treated like that. It makes me feel pathetic."

"You're not pathetic."

"I know that, you know that, but it doesn't change the fact."

"Come on, eat now," he held out one of the boxes to me, "I promise that it's not poisoned."

I opened it carefully then breathed a sigh of relief, "Good it isn't a bomb."

"You're so optimistic."

"Your sarcasm is getting better."

"You're an idiot."

"Why thank you. By the way why are you doing all of this?"

"All of what?"

"Lunch, talking to me, being plain awesome…"

"I owe you, I'd do just about anything you ask."

"Okay," well this is perfect, "tell me how to get to Tenchi Bridge."

"I said just about."

"Why won't you tell me? I really have to know where she is."

"She's at Tenchi Bridge."

"I need to know how to get there."

"No you want to," he stopped eating and looked straight at me, "and if I tell you how to get there then you will try to go after her. I'm not an idiot Elishia."

"I know but-"

"But nothing, if I give you a chance then you will take it. Now eat your food and no more talk of this."

I huffed unhappily, pulling my tail out of his reach, "Fine, but how can I get out if I'm always talking to you or sleeping?"

"I'm not telling you how to get there."

"Why not?"

"Eat‼"

"Hmpf."

"Lord Kazekage‼" his little student bounded in panicked, "Lord Kankuro is looking for you, he says it's urgent."

"Fine, but Matsuri," he gave me a look before getting off my bed, "keep an eye on her."

"Yes sir."

_Ooh, Elishia has an idea…_

I waited patiently for him to be well out of the room, casually eating the lunch he brought me, before giving her an innocent look, "It's Matsuri right?"

"Yeah, you're Elishia."

"Yes, hey can I ask a huge favour?"

"What is it?"

"Gaara was about to tell me how to get to Tenchi Bridge and it's really important, please can you tell me?"

"Sure," she sat down in the chair beside my bed, being so naïve and sweet, "you just head straight through the desert, through the land of rivers, when you get to the Hidden Grass village keep heading west and you should get there not long after."

"Thanks so much Matsuri, I know everything I need now."

"No problem, anything else?"

"Yeah can you just grab my jacket out of the bathroom."

"Sure."

_Idiot._

Once she was out of sight I jumped out the window, making a few people gasp but not hurting anyone. No idea how I was going to get through the desert alone I just started running till I reached the gates, managing to sneak past the guards by telling them that Temari needed them for a job. Apparently my reputation for telling the future got around. The desert was hot, sandy, dry but pretty, and I had no idea where I was. This was not good.

"…kitty…"

_Oh dear God who was that?_

"…here kitty-kitty…"

I turned around and spotted an all too familiar face that made my blood boil, "You disgusting son of a bitch."

The old man who kidnapped Manny and I just smirked evilly, "I've been looking for you my little kitten."

* * *

It didn't take long to fill Sasori in on the plan, and soon we were all in our places and ready to go. He went out to the centre of the bridge and waited for Kabuto to show. It didn't take long before he arrived, and walked to meet Sasori where he stood. We can't hear what they're saying from this distance, I had told them that they would have been discovered had we hidden anywhere closer.

I see Kabuto hold out his hand, obviously for the item Sasori had promised him. Suddenly Sasori pulls out a kunai but his stab is blocked by the one already being drawn by Kabuto, his scorpion tail reaches around, but instead of stabbing, as Kabuto was expecting, it wrapped around him and held him tightly, Kabuto threw several shrunken which were deflected and then attempted to break the tail, to no prevail. Suddenly Kabuto fell limp; I assumed that he had been scratched by one of Sasori's poisoned blades.

I tensed as Orochimaru appeared, not moments later.

A few words were spoken before Sasori rushed forward just as Kakashi leapt out from behind. Orochimaru easily dodged both attacks and turned to face his opponents.

Naruto, Sakura and I crept forward closer to the bridge now that Orochimaru was occupied, I held back with Sakura while Naruto crept close enough to grab Kabuto once Sasori throws his unconscious body into the bushes.

"Well, well, it seems you were expecting me." Orochimaru said, his voice sent a shiver down my spine. "Sasori, my old friend. Still living in puppets I see."

"You are no friend of mine, Orochimaru."

"Ah, but you can't forget the times we spent together. My offer is still open if you would join me."

"The offer is tempting however I could never re-join you."

I held my breath, trying to be as quiet as possible which was hard with no ninja training like the others. But then I noticed Kabuto's eye open.

I didn't know how to warn the others that Kabuto was awake without being overheard by Orochimaru and giving away our position.

I nudged Sakura and motioned towards Kabuto whose hand was slowly reaching into his pouch.

She noticed to and motioned to Naruto as Kabuto quietly pulled out a kunai.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto yelled as he rushed out and tackled Kabuto, almost impaling himself on the spike of Sasori's tail.

"That idiot." Sakura mumbled under her breath.

Kabuto was fully conscious now; he and Naruto wrestled on the ground some more before they both jumped up and away from each other, Kabuto returning to Orochimaru's side while Naruto stood where he was.

"Ah, Kabuto, about time you re-joined us."

This was bad, we knew Kabuto was a medical ninja but we never thought he could have combated the effects of Sasori's poison so quickly, unless…he was faking it…

I groaned, Sasori had never poisoned him at all, he had realised Sasori wanted to capture him alive and faked paralysis.

And now Naruto had revealed himself and therefore us so we had lost the element of surprise.

"And you must be Naruto, my how you've grown." Orochimaru purred, "You might as well come out too...Sakura."

I felt her stiffen at her name, and then she pushed me back into a bush and stepped out.

"Sasuke has mentioned you once or twice."

I saw Naruto's fist clench at the mention of his best friend and desperately prayed that he wouldn't lose control.

"That's enough outta you." He said angrily

"Naruto, no." Kakashi warned

"Where is he? Where is Sasuke?" he yelled

"I suppose you intend to rescue him?" Orochimaru teased

"Yeah actually, I do."

"But why go to all this trouble over someone who doesn't even want your help?"

"I won't let you use him for your own sick means!"

Orochimaru smirked which seemed to make Naruto even angrier and red chakra began pouring out of his body.

_Uh-Oh_

Kakashi saw it too.

"Naruto, calm down."

"How dare you." He growled. "How dare you!"

The chakra began to bubble and form around his body.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled

Sakura looked confused while Orochimaru was becoming interested. "You are nowhere near finding Sasuke anyway, no wonder he left, he has no place with children like you."

Naruto got down on all fours and growled, while the chakra continued to bubble around him forming a tail.

"Naruto, don't listen to him!" I screamed, running out into view. "He's just trying to make you angry! Don't listen! Naruto you promised!"

Naruto turned his head at my voice; he seemed to still be clinging on to his consciousness. "Manny?" but it was too late, a fourth tail formed and he screamed as his skin peeled off showing the deep crimson beneath.

His head snapped back around to Orochimaru who was still smirking. "And there's a third, Sasori I never thought you would associate with children."

Naruto growled deeper and I saw Kakashi pulling out the seal that needed to be placed on him.

But before Kakashi could reach Naruto, he dived at Orochimaru and in a blur they shot out off the bridge and into the forest, destroying any trees in their way. Kakashi followed with the seal leaving only me, Sasori and Sakura with Kabuto on the bridge.

"So that was the nine-tails taking form." Sasori muttered to himself.

"I guess now I don't have to show him." I stated with a hollow laugh.

A loud crash came from the forest and a large cloud of dust rose from the ground.

Kabuto stood calmly, watching us.

"Tell us, where is Sasuke?" Sakura demanded.

"I wouldn't know."

"You're lying." I said. "He's at one of Orochimaru's hideouts, but you change often. Which hideout is he at and where is it?"

"And you Sasori? Do you care where Sasuke is?"

"Not really, I'd rather just kill you right now. But I owe a debt to this girl." He said, indicating to me, "So if she wants answers from you, then you better tell her what she wants to know before I kill you, and you should do it quickly, I hate waiting."

_He owes a debt to me?_

Kabuto sighed, "If you're going to kill me anyway, why should I tell you anything?"

"Because it will make your death a lot less painful."

"You seem to think you can kill me easily."

"There are three of us and one of you."

"Hmm you're right, that doesn't seem fair, why don't we even out the odds?"

Suddenly he rushed forward and grabbed me, pulling me back to the other side of the bridge before the others could do anything to stop him.

"Now it seems fair." He said, holding a kunai up to my throat.

_Damn it, I've had enough of this!_

"Becca!" Sakura yelled.

"Let her go." Sasori demanded

"You owed this girl a debt I believe? It'd be a shame if she died before you could repay her."

I swallowed a lump of fear in my throat and pulled out a kunai Sakura had given me but it was quickly slapped out of my hand.

"You're not much of a ninja are you? You can't even defend yourself."

Suddenly an idea came to mind, it wasn't ideal but I didn't have anything else.

"I can do more than that." I replied, and then jumped off the side of the bridge, pulling Kabuto down with me.

This seemed to take him by surprise and I heard Sakura scream as she rushed forward to grab us but we were already falling.

"Drop the knife and turn around if you want to live." I yelled over the rushing air. "Or we both die!"

I realised how crazy that sounded and instantly regretted my decision but luckily, Kabuto had already dropped the kunai and was attempting to grab onto the sides of the cliff.

With one quick motion I ripped a hole in the back of my shirt and my wings came free, I grabbed Kabuto and spread my wings, catching the air and slowing our descent it was a little rough at first and we smashed into the side of the cliff but eventually I figured it out and managed to flap them enough to gain some height. I did it again and we soared upward back onto the bridge.

"Well that was a surprise." Sakura stated.

I landed heavily and dropped Kabuto, while gasping for breath;_ I can't believe I did that!_

"You have wings." Sasori stated.

I laughed, "You're one to talk, it may be fake but you _do_ have a scorpion tail."

Sakura stared, open mouthed. "You can fly?"

"I guess I can." I folded my wings behind me and looked down at Kabuto. It seems that us crashing against the rocks had knocked him out, I was fine except for a few bruises, and it seemed he had cushioned the collision for me.

We quickly tied him up, making sure to keep his hands in sight. Then headed into the forest to find Kakashi and Naruto.

"Hey Sasori, why did you say you owed me a debt?" I asked.

"Your information was correct."

"You don't owe me anything."

"It is my way of thanking you."

"Oh, right." _Is everyone like this?_ "Hey, what was the offer Orochimaru was talking about?"

"He offered to return me to a living human body."

"I don't understand." Sakura spoke up

"He's a puppet." I explained

"I know…but aren't you human underneath?"

"No." he responded bluntly.

"Oh."

We were interrupted by the return of Kakashi carrying Naruto's unconscious blood soaked body.

Sakura rushed forward and began healing Naruto's injuries as Kakashi lay him down on the ground and then fainted himself. I rushed forward also.

"You overdid your Sharingan didn't you?" I muttered. "Sasori? Do you think you could help us carry them back to the village?"

"I will help, but only to the outskirts of the village, I wouldn't be able to enter with you."

"I understand, let's go."

* * *

_Need to learn how to fight‼‼_

I gave a loud yelp as the old man twisted my tail around his arm, I couldn't even see him move he was so fast. And he had a really strong grip. He pulled me back and grabbed my shoulders with his free hand, his voice had grown dark and creepy, "Don't even try it. You were a silly girl for running away and now you're going to pay for it."

"Let me go."

"Na ah, you are coming back with me right now."

_Why am I so scared of this man?_

"Please let me go."

"I'm going to cut you open again so I can see how my work has progressed. Then after I sew you back up you're going to help me find my little birdy. Do you understand me pretty kitty?"

Tears slipped from my eyes, _he can't call me that._

"I said do you understand me?"

"O-only Gaara calls me pretty kitty."

"Shut up," he wrapped a collar around my neck and pushed me back into the sand, "now get up and move."

I couldn't stop my tears from falling, I was terrified and all I wanted to do was run. Run. I was already on all fours all I had to do was start moving and I could be home free. I looked back at the old man and swallowed the lump in my throat, I had nothing to lose.

"I said MOVE."

Move is exactly what I did, I took off like my ass was on fire through the dunes only looking back to see the cursing man becoming nothing more than a speck in the distance. But I couldn't stop running even after he was gone, I just didn't feel safe. I could still feel his eyes watching me like he owned me, but he didn't own me.

I finally grew tired of running and just lay in the hot sand, looking at the cloudless sky, and letting my chest rise and fall, the fresh oxygen filling my body and letting me relax slightly. That was until a shadow loomed over me. I jumped up and was about to start running but familiar hands held my own comfortably. I simply sighed out my relief, "Itachi, please tell me you're still planning not to kill me."

"I'm not going to kill you."

"Thank you…"

"I'm going to tell you you're a moron."

"Why?"

"Running away after I tell you that people are trying to kill you is one of the stupidest things I have ever see," he quickly threw me over his shoulder and started to move off in some direction, "I gave you a choice and you just threw away your chance."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're coming with me, if I leave you alone I have no doubt in my mind that you'll do something stupid again."

"You can't do that!"

"Watch me."

* * *

As much as I wanted to get back to the Hidden Sand to see Twigg, the Hidden Leaf was closer and we had to get Kakashi and Naruto to a hospital to recover. Naruto had regained consciousness and I was propping him up while we walked and Sakura was making sure Kakashi didn't fall off Sasori's back, while leading Kabuto with the rope we had tied around him.

Once we were nearing the village, we paused, not sure how to continue. Sasori placed Kakashi on the ground.

"I must go now, but we will be seeing each other again." He said to me.

"Oh, uh…bye then."

Sakura and I awkwardly carried Kakashi between us while Naruto walked slowly behind us, the rope still fastened to Kabuto tied around Sakura's waist.

As soon as the ninja guarding the gate saw us they ran to help and once Kakashi and Naruto were lying in the hospital and Kabuto was being guarded we were called to the Hokage.

"I hope the mission was a success?"

"Not yet m'lady." Sakura replied, "We captured Kabuto but he hasn't told us anything yet."

"None the less, you captured him and returned alive, albeit rather damaged, but alive nonetheless."

"Rebecca."

"Hm? I mean uh…yes?"

"This may be asking a bit much of you but is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"Trust me there are lots of things I would tell you, but everything's different now, I don't think anything's relevant anymore."

She frowned. "I see. Well you two should go get checked out as well, off you go."

We both bowed and left, heading for the hospital.

"So…you have wings?" Sakura said

"Yeah." I sighed

"Do you mind if I ask how?"

"The same way Twigg got her ears and tail, we were kidnapped and experimented on by some sick bastard."

"I'm so sorry." She said quietly.

"It's ok, hey; they came in handy didn't they?" I laughed

"I guess they did."

"Oh and Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Naruto, not just yet anyway."

She laughed. "Sure."

Once we were checked over and the doctors confirmed we were fine, Tsunade came into my room.

"I heard from Sakura that you used your wings."

_I should have known Sakura would have told Tsunade everything._

"Yeah."

"And you were fine? They held your weight?"

"I guess, it was a bit of a bumpy ride though."

"May I?"

"Oh, sure.

I turned around and unveiled my wings. Tsunade checked carefully where they were joined to my back, and then along the few tips.

"Hm, no tearing or bruising, it seems that you may actually be able to fly properly and not just short distances or off hospital roofs."

I flushed red. "You heard about that?"

"I did."

"Yeah…Twiggy can get a little overexcited sometimes."

"I've heard."

"Can I see her? I kinda left without saying goodbye."

"Rest a little more and you can leave tomorrow, I'll arrange an escort."

"Thank you."


	8. Bad Times

Why is the forest filled with so many stupid trees? Not that they bothered Itachi at all, it was mainly the fact that the twigs kept getting caught in my tail's fur and it bloody hurt.

"Itachi please put me down."

"I put you down and you'll do something stupid."

"Hypocrite, you do stupid things all the time."

"Name one."

"You lied to Sasuke."

"Let's play the quiet game."

"I don't think so, I don't want to go with you. This is technically kidnapping."

"It's happened to you before."

"And that makes it better how?"

He bounced off several trees before deciding to speak to me again, "So was that the old man you told me about?"

"And what if it was?"

"He's a shinobi, not one that I've seen before, but a good one. I think he was also using some sort of Jutsu to appear harmless, this is another reason as to why running away was a stupid idea."

"Seriously put me down, I need to clean out my tail."

"Fine," he stopped temporarily so he could drop me to the ground, watching carefully as I plucked the mess out of my tail. I tried ignoring him but that became impossible when he pushed my head up from my chin, looking at the collar that got put on me, "Where did you get this?"

"That creep put it on me."

"It could be some sort of tracking device, we should get it off."

"Be my guest."

Getting the collar off was a complete and utter fail, Itachi just began to tug and tug but I could feel collar still around my neck. Eventually he gave up trying and just looked over his shoulder, "Kisame, you come get this off."

The blue man walked out of the trees, obviously he had been following us, and took over the removing of my collar. He put his foot on my chest and started yanking but the object didn't seem to move, my ribs did a little though. I squeaked painfully as he pulled harder, he gave up and let me fall backwards, "Well that is definitely not coming off."

"…ow…"

"Sorry kid," he turned to Itachi with a bored expression on his face, "If it is a tracking device then I say we leave her behind and we continue on our way, we're not allowed to get caught."

"I second that motion."

"Elishia be quiet," I never knew that Itachi could be so rude, "Kisame, how are we supposed to watch the girl if she's doing stupid things and getting kidnapped."

"We trust the other shinobi to do their job?"

"It isn't their job."

I raised my hand, "Can I say something?"

"No, but you know their whole friendship thing. I doubt they'll just let her get kidnapped and therefore keep her safe."

"I don't trust them."

"I know you don't."

I shrugged of their argument and tried to sneak off, Itachi merely put his foot on my tail and continued, "So we go to an inn tonight and just sort this whole mess out."

"I'm not paying."

"Fine, let's go then."

_I really hate the Akatsuki right now._

* * *

I was tempted to stay and see how the whole Kabuto ordeal would work out but I wanted to see Twigg even more, I felt bad that I had left without saying goodbye, and I was worried that she would do something stupid.

When I arrived at the Hidden Sand I thanked my escort and ran inside.

I went straight to her hospital room to find it empty. _She must be feeling better._

I left the hospital and made my way to her room in the Kazekage's house which was also empty, after much more searching of the house, I ran into Gaara.

"Gaara! Have you seen Twigg? I can't find her?"

"I was about to ask you that."

"What?"

"She's gone. Turns out Matsuri gave her the directions to the Tenchi Bridge and she must have left to go find you."

"What? Oh that idiot."

He sighed, "I've sent several highly trained ninja to head to the Tenchi Bridge to find her, but they've returned with nothing. She must have gotten lost or…"

"I'm going to go find her."

"You can't, wait till the next team returns; hopefully they will have some news…"

"Listen, I…I don't know if this is true or not, but the guy that kidnapped us…he may have got her, there's no one else who would want to hurt her."

"You mean the man who gave her the ears and tail?"

"Yeah, I don't think he would have been too happy that we escaped. If she went out on her own and if he found her…" I couldn't even finish that sentence. "I'm going to kill that bastard."

"We don't know if it was him, wait until the next team returns and you can go with the next one if they haven't found anything."

"I know it was him, and I think I know how to find him."

"What do you suggest?"

"If he wanted Twigg back, then he probably wants me back too. What if I go out as bait and wait till he shows up?"

Gaara paused to think about it before speaking. "It may seem like a good idea, but it's too dangerous, and we don't even know if that man has her."

I groaned, "Ugh, I guess you're right. When is the search team meant to get back?"

"They have orders to send a message which should arrive in a day's time, and then should arrive back in about a week."

"A week?! That's too long!"

"It may be enough time for them to find her."

"They'd better or I'm going out there myself."

"I wouldn't expect anything else."

"Oh…uh thanks, I kinda thought you'd say not to…"

"I can understand, I anticipated that you would want to go find her, I wanted to myself but of course I can't leave my village. So I've arranged some training for you."

"Training?"

"Meet Temari outside."

"Temari?" I groaned

"Now."

"Yes sir Mr Kazekage sir." I said begrudgingly with a salute then turned around and left for the training area.

I met with Temari in the grounds and the next few hours were the worst of my life. We both obviously didn't want to do this, but I pulled through for Twigg's sake then returned to my room exhausted and collapsed on the bed.

* * *

_I want to get out of here so bad…_

Itachi walked back into the bedroom with a small frown on his face, "Don't give me that look."

"I'm tied to a bed."

"And?"

"That's just wrong."

"How?"

"How could it not be?" I wriggled uncomfortably from my position, "You are two fully grown men while I am one tiny teenaged girl. This is just very wrong."

"Maybe you should stop thinking that way."

"Maybe you should shut up."

"Ever heard the phrase 'don't bite the hand that feeds you'? While I've got the food."

"I don't give a damn, I want out of here. You said I had a choice remember?"

"And I also took the privilege away when you did something life threatening and stupid."

"You can't do that‼"

"I already did."

"You suck Itachi."

"Hn."

He sat on the end of the bed, a plate for me being put at my feet, and went completely silent. I can't figure out whether he is ignoring me or just being plain…Uchiha. It was rather confusing, "You do realise that I can't eat that while my hands are tied up."

"I was going to feed you."

"Wow. You really don't trust me. I'm such a dangerous person that two S ranked criminals have to keep me tied to a bed and feed me just to make sure I have no free will at all. I want a shower."

"There are baths down the hall."

"Ew, I'm not bathing with other people. That's just weird."

"You're rather picky aren't you?"

"And you're an ass for kidnapping me. Please let me go, I need to find Manny before she decides to freak out."

"No."

"Come on."

"Nothing you say is going to make me change my mind."

"I can help you reconnect with Sasuke, without you having to die."

"I'm going to have a bath, get some sleep Elishia."

He waltzed out of the room without a care, the stupid ass, "YOU SUCK‼" I can't believe he didn't even give me a second look as he left, then again that was a good thing because I'm not an idiot. I manoeuvred my tail around to the knots and gave a tug, the ropes falling and giving me my freedom.

_Suck it Uchiha my tail is amazing._

Cat like reflexes, an awesome personality, I had nothing stopping me from opening the window and jumping out of the building. I was home free and no one could stop me. _Oh crap I don't know where I am._ I whimpered lightly and started walking in one direction, unfortunately it was back into the inn and up to the receptionist, "Excuse me, I forgot which room I was in."

* * *

The past few days had been hell; I was bruised all over, mentally drained, and just completely tired. But it had been worth it, I had figured out how to control chakra and could even defend myself to some small degree, but at least now I didn't feel so completely useless. At night I had been practicing my flying and could actually take off from the ground instead of having to jump from a height, and I had figured out how to steer which made everything a lot less painful.

The team would be arriving back today, the message they sent had no information on Elishia and I was getting worried, desperately hoping they found some trace of her on their way back.

I went to the Kazekage's office.

"Hey Gaara."

"I thought common courtesy was to knock first."

I walked over and slumped into a chair. "I thought common courtesy was to not let sick patients, who saved your life, run off without anyone watching them."

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, that was more Elishia's fault for being an idiot than yours."

We were interrupted by a knock at the door. Gaara looked at me before calling them in.

I shrugged, so some people knock and others don't big deal.

I stood up as a team of ninja entered, but when I didn't see Twigg with them, I slumped back down into my chair.

"So no luck huh?" I said

They ignored me and faced Gaara. "We apologize Kazekage, no sign of the girl."

"The _girl_ has a name." I snapped

They ignored me again and started relaying the details of the mission, but none of it was important to me, they hadn't found Twigg, so I got up and left.

I saw Gaara go to stop me, but seemed to change his mind and I ran out as the ninja continued their stupid story. What was the point? They failed their mission and now they wanted to brag about it?

I stormed into my room and angrily shoved some clothes and weapons into a small bag; I'm going to find Twigg myself. I changed into my new ninja gear, a light blue shirt with holes specially cut in to allow my wings out, black pants and large jacket that fell to my knees to cover my wings when I wasn't flying. I filled the bag with some money I had saved, a water bottle and some food I had got from the kitchen, then I hung the bag from the black belt at my waist and went up to the roof, taking care not to run into anyone.

I looked out over the desert and took a deep breath, tying my jacket around my waist and spreading my wings. I had left a note in my room explain that I had left and not to look for me. Gaara knew I was going to leave anyway and that no one could stop me. Then without a second thought, I ran to the edge of the roof and jumped off. I loved the experience of flying, and I knew I could find Twigg faster like this, plus to anyone who looked up, I would appear as just a large bird.

I flapped up higher and glided through the clouds, making my way North-East toward the Tenchi Bridge. I knew she wouldn't be there, but it was where she was headed and there's a chance she made it close. I clenched my fists and flapped harder, straining all the muscles in my back, I have to find her.

* * *

Just watching Kisame drive through the trees from Itachi's back was really impressive, they were so much more skilful than Naruto's team. Even I could tell that from where I sat. I wrapped my arms further around Itachi's neck and gave a small sigh, "Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?"

"Are you going to run away again?"

"Hey, I came back didn't I?"

"That's not the point."

"Fine. I promise I won't run away again. Now where are we going?"

"Well, our mission was to hunt down and capture the nine tails Jinchuriki so we're going to do that," he sounded not at all fazed about what he was talking about, "Once we capture Naruto then we're going to take him back to one of the hideouts and extract the-"

"You can't do that, Naruto is awesome."

"You can't stop me."

"If you do I'll cry."

"I'm shaking in my boots."

"I'll run away again and then you'll get in trouble."

"Still shaking."

"You are one of the biggest assholes I have ever met," I squeezed tighter, he just coughed lightly, "I want down now. I want to be left alone because you don't respect me and it hurts, so put me down and point me in the direction of the Hidden Sand."

"No now be quiet."

"Fine, for the rest of the trip all you're going to hear is me doing this. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"Shut up."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"Oh my lord, why won't you shut up?"

"Because you won't take me back to my friends. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"You're not very good at torture."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"Kisame you carry her, I've got a headache."

"She's your problem."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"Kisame."

"Itachi."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"This is your entire fault. I wanted to leave them alone and observe but you decided that we had to watch over them like an old married couple."

"This is the safest way, and don't argue with me in front of the child."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"You're the one who is arguing, I'm merely stating the facts. So stop acting like such a woman."

"You're the woman in this relationship not me."

"…"

"She went quiet?"

"I forgot to breathe."

"Kisame, don't just change the conversation."

"I'm merely looking after the child like you told me to."

_My God they fight like a married couple, _"I know how to solve your problem, take me back to the village."

"No Elishia."

"She has a name?"

"Yes! She isn't some drone Kisame."

"Sorry for not remembering unimportant information."

Itachi sighed dismissively and gave up on his partner, "Moving on, we need to hide you somewhere that no one will ever find you and that you can't escape from."

"But I don't wanna."

"Dammit. Kisame‼"

"Fine, pass her here."

"Thank you."

"You guys suck," I interrupted as they swapped me over, "just so you know I am going to find a way to get away from you guys and when I find the others I am going to tell them everything. You'll get in a lot of trouble. By the way I'm telling Sasuke you're gay for each other."

"Like he would believe that."

"If he hears about my track record then I think I'm going to be the one he believes."


	9. Holes, Cosplay and Tickling

"This is where you're leaving me?"

"Yes, we'll be back later to bring you some food."

"This is a hole Itachi," I chased him to the giant wall as he ran up it, "A HOLE‼"

"You'll live."

Great, I'm all alone in a giant hole in the middle of a stupid forest with no one knowing that I'm here because I was an idiot who had to run away. I crouched to the wall and curled up in a small ball of self-pity; I blame Manny for all of this. The stupid bird girl who can't even fly. Then again I'm not one to talk, a proper cat would be able to climb out of here with their claws and everything but I'm still sitting here all alone. Being lonely and depressed.

_I'm even more useless than Sakura._

I got to me feet and walked around my small prison, it was completely made of dirt and I'm pretty sure Itachi put a Genjutsu on it so it looked like a pond or something so no one would bother me. But that wasn't going to do much if I'm wearing an unmoveable tracking collar. I looked at the area I little bit more before starting to jump. Cats can jump really high so why shouldn't I be able to jump out of this hole right? Unfortunately I wasn't getting very far.

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL THAT UCHIHA‼"

I have absolutely no cat powers except purring and growling, and those are just stupid cat powers. Maybe I'm just not doing this right, cat's walk on all fours so perhaps I should try jumping from all fours. "Besides," I dropped on all fours and prepared for launch, "no one is going to see this so why not?"

I bent low, my body being as close to the ground as possible, and pounced directly up. I saw the forest floor and smiled, and then I fell back to the ground landing on all fours again. So I do have awesome cat powers but they only work when I'm on all fours. I guess I'll just have to do keep doing it this way until I figure out another way. Crouching low again I flew upwards but this time grabbed onto the edge of the hole and pulled myself out easily. I quickly looked around before spotting foot prints and deciding to follow them. The sooner I find a town the sooner I can get back to the Sand.

* * *

I found a small village nearby and got a room in an inn for the night, I was absolutely exhausted from searching all the surrounding areas. I had asked around and no one had seen her, with her distinguishable features I would have thought _someone_ would have spotted her. It was starting to look like she was kidnapped. I was desperately in need of a bath and luckily, the inn had a hot springs. I went down but paused when I realised it was shared bathing. I didn't want to draw attention to myself, a young girl travelling along was strange enough, but I'm pretty sure the wings would cause some staring. I sighed and went back to my room. _I guess I'll sneak down later on at night when there's no one there. _I searched through my bag and pulled out a map I had picked up, scanning over the page, I had searched all the areas around the Tenchi Bridge and was starting to get desperate. It can't have been that creep, I wouldn't allow it.

I fell back onto the bed with the map and looked over the areas that I should search next; I decided to search the areas between the sand the bridge, and any villages nearby that she could have gone to. Before I realised, it was dark out, so I grabbed a towel and went down to the hot springs. I stepped in and felt a lot better; I guess I needed something to relax me.

After a few minutes I heard voices nearby and froze, I shrank back to hide in the shadows as some girls stepped in. They were laughing about breaking the rules and having a midnight swim. _Brilliant._ I pressed my back against the rocks and undid my hair, letting it fall down over my shoulders and hopefully hide any feathers from sight. They didn't seem to notice me.

"So what was the deal with that anyway?" I heard one of them ask.

"I don't know, I guess it was just cosplay?" another answered

"But why would there be _one_ girl dressed up and no one else?"

"I don't know, maybe she just really likes cats." One of the girls laughed

"That tail was pretty cute though."

_That must be Twigg!_ I stepped forward, "Where did you see this girl?"

They screamed and jumped back.

"How long have you been there?" one of them asked

"Where was this girl?" I repeated.

"At a town not too far from here."

"Give me the directions."

They told me how to get there; I thanked them, then grabbed my towel and stepped out.

"Wha- what's that on your back?"

"I also like to cosplay."

"Oh, so that's why you want to find the cat girl."

"Yeah…we're cosplayers united."

I left them with confused looks on their faces and ran inside back to my room and marked out the village on the map.

I smiled, I had found her, and by the sounds of it, she was ok. I lay back on the bed and fell asleep, eagerly waiting for it to be morning so I could find her.

* * *

I love the people in this town; a lovely elderly couple took one look at me and immediately took me in. They bathed me, fed me, gave me directions and a compass, and even took me out shopping for some new clothes. It was a cute yellow dress with matching flats, and a hole in the back for my tail to pop out of, as well as a black travelling cloak. I looked back at the couple as they stood with me at the desert edge, "Thank you so much for everything you've done for me."

"Not at all my dear, just be careful not to get in trouble," the lady waved fondly at me before handing me a small canteen of water and a sandwich.

The old man clapped my shoulder with a smile that was just as fond, "Don't forget about us kid. Come visit us one day."

"I promise," I started running on two feet into the desert, waving back to them. I had explained my situation to them but not enough to get them in trouble if they had ever been found out. I shook my head to erase my memory of them slightly before dropping to all fours and sprinting as fast as I could. I had practiced this a little and always moved faster, I could feel my kitty instincts taking over when I started acting like the animal I had become, in a good way of course. It was so much fun watching the scenery stream by as I ran so fast, I knew that I'd be back in the Sand before long and then I could find Manny and tell her about the mutant making freak wanting us back. Then I'll go find someone to take this stupid collar off of me.

The wind whistled in my ears in a bird like tune, maybe that's just my cat side shining through all over again. I stopped momentarily to check my bearings, being right on course I decided to take a quick drink and eat my lunch. I had no idea how long I had been running for but from the placement of the sun I guessed it to be about one or two o'clock. It wasn't going to be too long until I arrived back in the Hidden Sand and then I will have so much explaining to do. Maybe I should leave it for a while.

The walls of the village came into view and I slowed my pace, only then realising that the guards would probably not believe it was me and I'd get into further trouble. Spotting a cart full of supplies going in I jumped in the back and crouched as low as I could behind one of the boxes.

_I'm so going to get my ass kicked for this…_

* * *

I awoke early and dressed, putting my jacket on over my wings, I never bothered with strapping them in anymore, I never knew when I would need them. I packed my things, then tied my hair back and left. Heading out of the village in the direction the girls had given me. _Please still be there, please be ok._

Once I was outside the village and there was no one around, I took of my jacket and tied it around my waist, then pushed off from the ground and shot upwards, once I was at a decent height, I spread my wings out a glided for a bit, glad to be able to stretch them out. Then, partly out of haste and partly out of curiosity, I pushed myself forward and raced as fast as I could toward the village, surprisingly, I was able to build up an immense amount of speed, I whooped and did a loop-de-loop, I guess I was in brighter spirits now that I had a lead as to where Twigg was.

I made it to the village in record time and even managed a somewhat graceful landing despite the speed. I put my coat back on and made my way into the village, hoping with all my heart that I would find Twigg there.

* * *

_Thank God they've finally gone._

I crawled out of the hiding spot and dived into the streets before the shinobi at the gates could notice me there. I tucked my hood on so no one would recognise me and scuttled through the streets quickly, I'm thinking that if I train properly then I would be one pretty awesome ninja. And a cute one too.

_Meow, meow._

_Man I'm one awesome cat._

_I have got to stop talking to myself._

"Hey you‼"

_They're not talking to me, don't turn around. Keep walking Elishia, just keep walking._

"Elishia, your tail is showing."

"Well you could've said so earlier," I pulled the hood off and turned around, "how long have you been following me anyway?"

"I went out looking for someone else then spotted you in that cart," Gaara nodded to a few villagers as he caught up to me, clipping my ears once they were in reach, "I thought I told you not to run off."

"You can't tame a cat."

"What has gotten into you?"

"I'm badass?"

"You're a pretty kitty and you are going to get back to my house so you can explain yourself."

"What if I don't want to?"

He didn't reply, instead he just grabbed my tail and started pulling so I was forced to follow. The painful journey was over quickly, mainly because I was screaming abuse, and he then started pushing me up the stairs obviously wanting to speak privately. We went into his living room and I was pushed into the couch without a care, he did not sound happy, "You were sick and you ran away."

"No, I was _better_ and I ran off. You can even ask Ino."

"She went back to the Leaf a while ago."

"Whatever," I lay on the couch and relaxed for the first time in a while, "So you're still mad about me leaving?"

"Of course I am. You could've been hurt."

"But I wasn't."

"You could've been."

"But I wasn't."

"Elishia, there is more than just you in this world."

"Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

"Just listen;" he grabbed my feet and pushed them off the seat so he could sit down, "many people were worried about your disappearance and your entire plan altogether. You were going to an area with some of the highest ranked criminals out there while you yourself have no combat experience what so ever. You could've been killed out there."

"But I was-"

"I don't want to hear it. You could've died and that scared me."

"Because you owe me? I thought you were over that."

"Because I care about you idiot, and I'm not planning to let you leave until you can at least run away from a battle," he sounded really sincere, "I want you to start training with some of my top ninja and only when I say so will you be allowed to leave with escorts. Then you will be able to leave my village, and even then I will want a letter to say that you got back to the Leaf."

"What if I don't want to go back to the Leaf?"

"Isn't that your home?"

"No."

"Then where do you live?"

I looked at the ceiling and carefully thought it over, "I guess…I don't. I don't have a home."

"I'm confused."

"So am I."

"You said you had a younger brother, where does he live?"

"At home."

"And where is that?"

"Let's just say it's not within walking distance."

"What do you mean?"

I leaned over and plonked my head on his shoulder, finally realising that I was tired, "I can't tell you, I promised Manny I wouldn't."

"Then I guess you can't tell me."

"Thanks for understanding Gaara."

He began to pat my head, I think just because he thought it was funny the way I purred, "You can stay here, you don't have to go back. We have plenty of rooms."

"I have to go find Manny."

"She'll come back soon. Just be patient."

"How long has it been now?"

"It doesn't matter, just know that she'll be back soon."

"I've got a lot to tell her."

"Want to share with me?"

"You might get mad at me."

He stopped patting my head, "What did you do?"

"It wasn't my fault."

"What happened?"

"I don't want you to get mad at me."

"Don't pout and tell me," he moved his hand off my head and down onto my neck, his skin brushing against mine made me giggle.

"I'm ticklish," I answered his unsaid question.

"I can use that to my advantage you know, unless you decide to tell me what's going on in that little head of yours."

"No…" I backed off the couch as he moved closer, "don't…" he continued forwards and grabbed my leg, "Gaara don't‼"

He pulled me back, I squeaked and tried to get away but he was already tickling me horribly. How can something so funny feeling be so painful at the same time? I heard him laugh at me as I failed to get away again and then he pulled me onto his lap so I could breathe, "Are you going to tell me yet?"

"No."

"Your funeral."

I watched the door open and Kankuro walk in, he sighed when he saw us but was smiling, "You have to be careful, it sounded like you two were having sex out there. I've never heard a girl make those kinds of noises before."

"I bet you haven't."

"HEY‼"

I laughed loudly and tried to get up, Gaara's arms being the only things stopping me. He moved his hand to my head and started rubbing the certain spot enough for me to purr loud enough for only him to hear, "Play nice, he's my big brother."

"Only cause you ask so nicely," I smiled back at him, after all he knows how to make me purr, "Kankuro, I'm sure you can make girls scream with pleasure, you just have a hard time finding one willing to put out."

"Gee, thanks…"

"You're welcome."


	10. Reunion

I asked around the village and finally found an old couple who told me that they had seen Twigg, apparently they had taken her in like a stray cat and looked after her. Which they then did to me, it seems that old people just like to take care of younger people, and I wasn't one to complain.

After a really good meal, they gave me the path that Twigg had taken and after thanking them, I followed the directions they had given. Once I was out of sight of anyone, I removed my jacket and took off again, flying as fast as I could. _It seems I only missed her by a few days, but at least I know she's ok, and it sounds like she's heading for the Hidden Sand Village._

I felt so relieved as I sped back to the village, I flew over the wall and landed on the roof, exactly where I had taken off. I ran inside, pulling on my jacket as I did.

"Twigg?" I called down the halls

I rounded a corner and ran into Kankuro.

"Hey! Slow down or- Manny? When did you get back?"

"Kankuro? Have you seen Twigg?"

"Uh, I think she might be at the training grounds? Either that or Gaara's petting her again."

"Right, thanks." I said and ran off in the direction of the training grounds.

Once I got there, I scanned the grounds but couldn't see her, so I turned around and ran to Gaara's office. I burst in the door. "Twigg?"

Gaara looked up from his desk. "I should have known it was you, you're the only one that doesn't knock. When did you get back?"

"Just now, where's Twigg? Is she here?"

"I think she's down in the kitchen…"

I ran out before he could finish speaking and made my way to the kitchen; I burst in through the door to see her at the bench destroying a piece of meat. I ran up behind her and hugged her.

"Wha- who's…Manny? Manny!"

She spun around and I jumped back, narrowly avoiding the knife in her hand.

"Where have you been?"

"Looking for you dummy, I just got back."

"You just…what?"

I sighed, "I'm guessing they didn't tell you because they thought _you'd _leave to find _me_." I laughed.

Then I took a seat at the table, "Why don't you feed me while we swap stories?"

"Sure." She laughed as Gaara entered.

"So you two are finally reunited." He mused.

"Yes, and now she's feeding me, I'm exhausted." I said.

"Did you get far? You weren't gone as long as I suspected." Gaara asked as he took a seat at the table next to me.

"Actually I started at the Tenchi Bridge, searched around a bit, then searched areas closer to here, Once I heard some girls mentioning a cat-girl they had seen in a small village in the Sand, so I came back as fast as I could."

"You made it that far in that amount of time? How did you travel so fast?"

"Excuse me..." Elishia interrupted, "Why am I the only one cooking?"

"Oh um…"

"You can help." She said and grabbed Gaara's arm, pulling him up to the bench and handing him a knife. "Here, chop these vegetables."

"Oh…ok. What about Manny?"

"She's a terrible cook."

"That I am." I said as I happily rested back in my chair to watch the oncoming disaster.

* * *

Cooking is just so relaxing; something about chopping meat into tiny pieces and throwing it on a burning surface is just so calming for the soul. The thing that made it more fun though was that I was cooking with my new bestie and his didn't know what the hell he was doing. He had already dropped all kinds of ingredients on the floor and was currently having trouble getting all the salads onto the plate and not drowning it in dressing. I just had to giggle as I slid the finished meat onto our plates, "Oh care bear, you'll make a great house wife one day."

"Care bear? So we're giving each other nicknames now, hmm pretty kitty?"

"Mhm, you got a problem with it?"

"Just care bear?"

"Yeah," I picked up mine and Manny's plates and gave him a small wink, "because your beary, beary caring."

"Cute."

"I know I am."

Manny's laughter could've been heard from outside the building, obviously me being awesome is amusing to her. She took the plate off me and mumbled under her breath, "Lovely little pet talk."

"Shut it birdy."

"Meow, meow, meow."

"Reports," Gaara sat down but didn't touch his meal, "I want reports from both of you about where you're from, where you're going, how you're going to survive and what happened while you were out there."

"Okay, Manny should we tell him?"

"I'm not sure. Do you want to tell him?"

"I don't see the harm in it."

"It's all very illogical."

"Everything is here though."

"Good point. I don't think he'd believe us though."

"Someone just tell me what's going on."

"Fine," Manny shoved some meat in her mouth before continuing flawlessly, "We're from a land called Hogwarts, you've probably never heard of it, but stuff happened and now we can't go back. Don't ask cause it's really, really upsetting and it'll make Twigg cry. Anyway, one day we were out swimming and this old man came along asking for water because he was about to faint, Twigg gave it to him and in return he knocked us out, dragged us here, and made us into half mutant freaks. We don't know where we're going, we'll survive by being awesome and nothing happened to me while I was out there."

"Alright, pretty kitty?"

"Manny told you where we're from, I was planning on taking up your offer and staying here, ah training and shit went down when I went out."

"Like what?"

"Yeah," oh no, Manny looks slightly pissed, "run into the Uchiha again?"

"Uchiha?" great now Gaara looks all pissy, "What Uchiha?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at the table, "Well…maybe…"

"Elishia…"

"Twigg what the hell?!"

"Look it wasn't on purpose. I went out to find Manny, ran into the disgusting old man, he put this stupid collar on me, I ran off then Itachi came out of nowhere, threw me on his shoulder and told me that I wasn't getting a choice anymore and I had to go with him. He threw me in a hole; I jumped out and ran all the way back here. It wasn't my fault."

"You moron, what if that creep dragged you back?" Manny was so focused on being mad at me that she hit her food off the table when she swept her hand up for effect, "we wouldn't have been able to find you at all. Then Itachi dragging you away, I told you to be careful but you didn't listen."

"You didn't tell me to be careful at all. Besides I was going after you so this is kinda your fault."

"That makes absolutely no sense you moron."

Gaara had his head in his hands as information ran through his head, eventually he looked up at me but he didn't say anything. He just got up and left. I sighed to myself and looked at all the untouched meals, "No one's hungry then."

* * *

After dinner we headed to our rooms, eager to relay our stories to each other.

"Hey, wanna go sit up on the roof?" Twigg suggested

An evil thought came to mind, I still hadn't got her back for pushing me off the hospital roof. "Sure." I answered and I lead the way up to the roof, the path was so familiar to me now after my countless late night flying practices.

Once we arrived we sat down and began swapping stories, Twigg told me how she ran into the creep that had kidnapped us, then Itachi, before returning to the Hidden Sand.

I told her everything that happened at the Tenchi Bridge and how I got back to find her gone, then left to find her. However I left out that part where I had improved my flying skills. I still wanted my revenge, both for her running away and for pushing me off a building.

I got up and walked casually over to the edge, looking down.

"Hey Twigg? How are your cat skills? Think you could land a jump of here?"

She joined me and looked over the edge.

"Oh hell no, I mean it wouldn't kill me but it would probably hurt a lot."

"Well in that case…" I said and pushed her off the building.

"What the hell? Manny!" she screamed.

I laughed and threw off my jacket, then dived down to catch her before swooping up and landing back on the roof.

"What…what the…"

I couldn't help it, the look on her face was priceless, I fell back onto the floor and rolled about in laughter.

"You can fly?!"

"Hahaha! Oh My God your face!" I laughed

"Why the hell did you do that?!"

"Payback bitch. You don't push me off a building without me getting you back."

She growled very much like a cat.

"Oh, poor kitty, don't make your fur stand on end."

"Shut up."

"Ok, ok I'm sorry. I actually got you a present."

This perked her up. "Really? What is it? Gimme, gimme, gimme."

I reached into the bag at my hip and pulled out a small package I had picked up in the last town.

"I think you'll like it." I said and tossed it to her, trying to keep the grin off my face. _This should be funny._

"It smells nice." She said as she opened it to reveal the green herb. "What is it? Ooh…it smells _really _nice." She repeated, rubbing it against her cheek.

I laughed. "I knew you'd like it. It's catnip."

She stopped rubbing and glared at me. "I hate you."

"You love me; I guess I'm like your drug dealer now."

"Prepare to die little birdie."

I laughed and jumped off the building again, swooping back up and circling over her head while she jumped up, trying to grab my ankles. It was good to have her back.

* * *

"Fucking Mansfield," I was still shaking all over, "I'm going to kill the bitch, I'm going to kill her," people looked slightly frightened as I bit my thumb nail, "push me off a building will she? Well this cat always catches her prey. She'll regret it."

Stupid bird thinks that she's better than me but that won't last long, she may have been training with Temari but I'm going straight to the top dog. Only problem is he's mad at me and I don't know how to fix it. Men suck. I slipped back into the mansion and wandered through the halls until I was back in the living room, making sure no one was around I pulled the green herb out that Manny gave me and rubbed it against my face.

"Mmmm, catnip."

I don't know why this little leaf smells so good but it does and it's annoying me. I'm a drug addict now, another reason to go kill Manny. I put it away again and flopped on the couch, only to pull it out and rub it against my face. I couldn't help but purr, it just smelt so good.

"Hehe, catnip."

"Poor Kitty-Twiggy addicted now?"

"Ah‼" I didn't know how long Mansfield had been standing there but I had cat like reflexes now. I jumped off the couch and pounced after her, on all fours while she took flight, and we ran around the mansion like the animals we were. Unfortunately she found an open window and flew out before I could catch her. I perched on the open window and growled at her, because of her I lost my catnip. I crawled back inside and began to sniff around the floor; I knew the smell so I had to find it this way.

I moved quickly back through the mansion on all fours, running into Kankuro who waved at me, "Hey there Twigg? Lost something?"

"Have you seen my catnip?"

"Your what?"

"Catnip. Small green leaf that smells amazing‼"

"Ah no…"

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"Because you're on the floor."

"I want my catnip," I crawled past him with only one thing on my mind, "Don't talk to me unless you have it stupid."

"Okay…"

_Stupid ass face lying about my catnip._

I continued down the halls until I realised something, "I'm acting like a drug addict. I can't believe that Manny has turned me into a-CATNIP‼"

I smelt it again; I pressed myself against a door and sniffed harder. It's here. I opened the door and burst into the room and began sniffing, it was a bedroom and I didn't know whose it was but my catnip was in here somewhere dammit. I pounced on the bed and threw the pillows away, I FOUND IT‼

"Yaha! I found you, you sweet smelling thing you."

I began to roll around the bed, becoming encased in the bedding, just purring with joy at the fact I found my catnip. So much so that once again I didn't hear the door open or the person walk in until they spoke.

"Elishia…what are you doing in my bed?"

"Huh?" I rolled over once more and looked at the bed owner, the red head of hair just made me growl underneath my purring, "My catnip."

"What?"

"You stole my catnip."

"I didn't steal anything of yours."

"Then what's this?" I pulled out the green object to show him, he reached out to touch it but I just growled and pulled it back, "It's mine, that's what it is."

"I didn't take that."

"Then why is it in your bed?"

"I'm guessing the same reason why you're there, someone is trying to annoy me."

"I'm not annoying."

"You're rolling around in my bed because of a herb, that's kind of annoying."

"You stole it."

"You are really annoying me now, give me that," he snatched away my catnip which was not a good idea, "I don't get why you are so fascinated with this stupid leaf." He scrunched the catnip up in his hands and rubbed them together, destroying my catnip. I glared heavily at him but he ignored it, "Now get off, I have to make my bed again."

I huffed lightly then began to untangle myself when something caught my nose, the catnip may have been destroyed but the smell was still lingering around a certain someone. He moved over to help get the blanket off me but I just grabbed his hands and started smelling, "You smell good now."

"Let me go."

"No," I pulled him closer so I could smell it better. I love catnip, it smells so good.

"Let me go now."

"But…"

He ripped his hand back and stumbled away from me, his face was unreadable again. I wanted to smell him again, even if it sounded weird, but there was something else that was more important.

"Please get out of my room."

"Why are you so mad at me? I'm sure others you care about have put themselves in worse danger than I have but I don't see you getting all shitty with them."

"The others can take care of themselves."

"So can I, I managed to get my way back here didn't I?"

"That's not my point."

"What is your point? You're more annoying than I am."

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"If you don't then I'll do this. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Trust me, if it pisses off Akatsuki, it'll piss off you. Wait," I suddenly realised something, "is that why you're so pissed off? I thought you could get over the that fact, I didn't want to go with them."

"It's not that."

"Then what is it? Why are you so mad?"

"You…purred."

"You're mad because I purred? You make me purr."

"Exactly."

"What?"

"I'm the only one who is allowed to make you purr, not some stupid leaf your friend gave you." Gaara wouldn't look at my face as his true feelings poured out, "You purred and I wasn't the one who made it happen."

I was stumped, "So let me get this right, you were jealous…of a leaf?"

"No."

"Yeah, yeah you were jealous of a leaf."

"Fine, what's your point?"

"You smell good now," I crawled to the end of the bed and grabbed his hand again, sniffing it then placing it on my head, "see; now you're making me purr again."

"Why are you trying to make me feel better?"

"You smell like catnip."

"Really?"

"No," I jumped off the bed and hugged him, he can be so silly, "it's because I like you too care bear, and if you want my purring to be something only you know about than I'm okay with that."

"Thank you, now can I make my bed?"

"Hold on, I want to smell your hand more."

"Drug addict."

"Catnip!"


	11. To Find A Sasuke

_I have no idea how we're going to do this…_ "Manny I have no idea how we're going to do this."

"Relax Twigg, things will work out."

"How? We have no clue how to find these guys and they're expecting us to have a whole plan set out by the time we get back to the Leaf."

"Hold on, I'm landing."

She floated down most of the way but got tangled in the trees and made a clumsy landing instead. Luckily I managed to land gracefully on my feet while she tumbled though a mess of branches and leaves. She lay in a crumpled mess while I stood up, "I don't know why but I get the feeling that you shouldn't have been flying us both over a forest."

"Thanks for the great advice Twigg," she grumbled as pulled some stray leaves out of her wings, "where are our escorts anyway?"

"I don't know. I haven't been able to see them because of all the trees."

"You think…"

"I don't want to but there is a distinct possibility that it could happen considering the people who are hunting us down. Damn we're important."

"Yes we are."

It wasn't long before our escorts came out of the trees, two Jounin Sand shinobi, and they did not look happy, "We said to stay in view not fly off on your own accord."

"Sorry, sorry, we got over excited."

"Well don't do it again, now come on you're going the wrong way."

_Hold up…_

I looked at Manny and she picked up on it too, I turned back to the duo with a frown, "Well we have to hurry, if we don't it might be too late and Sasuke could lose a leg."

One of their eyes twitched, "Really?"

"Yeah, but of course that's after he becomes sterile."

"Figured it out huh?"

"Yup."

"Fine," two puffs of clouds later Itachi and Kisame appeared where our escorts should've been, "now pack it up and move."

Manny groaned and finished picking the mess out of her wings, "We have to go back to the Leaf and you're going to help us with the upcoming mission."

"Oh?"

_Man I love it when Manny gets all serious on someone who isn't me._

"Yeah, we're going to convince Sasuke to come back to Leaf so he doesn't screw up his life and become a Physco who tries to kill all of his friends over feeling sorry for himself. Also this way you can still be part of his life if you come clean. Your choice Itachi."

He stared emotionless and silent for a few minutes before pointing in the right direction, "Come on, move it."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," I had to stop them, I needed to know something, "You didn't…kill…the escorts did you?"

"No, they'll wake up in a few hours."

"Oh, okay then. We should probably go find them so they can take us to the Leaf."

"No. We're taking you."

"Gaara will get mad again and I'm the one who has to deal with him, not you."

"Funny how I don't care."

"Manny…"

She folded her arms and gave her wings a quick flap, "You're going to be difficult, Uchiha's tend to be, but we have to do it that way because I said so. Now we are going to sit here until those escorts come and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Really…?"

"Manny…" I can't believe that she just said that to a stubborn ass, "Why? Why? Why? Why?"

"What did I do?"

Itachi clicked his fingers, "Kisame."

"On it."

The giant fish man walked over and threw Manny over his shoulder, she tried to take flight but that guy was a lot heavier than I am so she was just forcibly carried through the trees. I looked at Itachi; he looked at me and then turned around. I took the hint and climbed onto his back so he could follow along behind. I clung as he picked up speed, "I'm going to get in so much trouble."

"I don't really care."

"Yes you do, otherwise you would've just knocked us out and carried us away to wherever you wanted to."

"Hn."

"My point exactly."

* * *

"Oh you are so gonna get it." I said in what I hoped was a threatening voice.

Kisame shrugged and I was jolted around.

"Out of all the times I have been kidnapped, this is definitely one of the worst… and I can't believe there is actually a point in my life where I have had to say this."

I saw Itachi following behind us from my view point over Kisame's shoulder. Twigg was comfortably perched on his back.

"You're getting a piggy back ride?!" I yelled

"Well I didn't want to be uncomfortably thrown over his shoulder like you." She retorted.

"You are such a pussy cat."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are you two going to be like this the whole way?" Kisame growled.

"Yes, unless we go back for the escorts, now put me down fish-boy."

He jolted me again.

I sighed, "Can you at least not carry me like this? It's really uncomfortable."

"But then when you're annoying I can't do this." Another jolt.

"Oh yay, fish-boy has a sense of humour." I grumbled. Another jolt

Twigg smirked as I crossed my arms angrily and ruffled my wings.

"At least we're going to the Hidden Leaf, and the guides will be fine." She said, obviously trying to reassure me.

"But they'll be looking for us, probably think we ran off, and then end up going back to tell Gaara."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Hey um, Itachi?"

"No."

"Sorry Manny."

"Ugh, no wonder you were the bad guys." Another jolt.

"Alright if you do that one more time I'm turning you into sushi." Another jolt, this time into a tree.

"I hate my life."

It wasn't long before the Hidden Leaf village was in sight and Itachi and Kisame finally put us down.

I stepped away and began pulling sticks, leaves and bark from my wings and hair, let's just say Kisame and I had a few 'disagreements' on the trip over. I retied my hair and put on my jacket, covering my wings. Then Twigg and I went into the village where Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto were waiting for us. We explained the situation and how Itachi was here to help get Sasuke.

"How did you find him? And aren't you supposed to be with some guides?" Kakashi questioned

"They uh… left once we saw the gates to the village."

"Ok. And Itachi Uchiha?"

"Ran into him on the way."

"That sounds oddly convenient."

"I know, lucky right?" Twigg said

"Oh and I should probably mention the tuna."

"The tuna?"

"Yeah, Itachi brought his little fishy friend with him."

"He…what?" Sakura asked

"Kisame is with him." Twigg explained

"Oh. I'm guessing they're not friends?"

"You have no idea."

"Oh shut up and let's go." I growled

We went out to meet Itachi and Kisame who were waiting in the forest near the village.

"Bout time," Kisame growled.

"Shut it guppy."

He glared at me while Naruto and Twigg laughed. Then we told them the plan.

"So should we walk or would you rather drag me with a rope?"

"Well if you have a rope…" Kisame answered

"All right enough you two." Itachi interrupted as I raised my fist. "Let's go we have a lot of ground to cover."

We headed north in the direction of the Land of Lightening, I had almost forgotten how slow and boring walking was, though not as much as Twigg apparently.

"Come on Twigg, pick up the pace." I called back.

"Ungh. I don't like this." She complained "I'm hot and tired and thirsty and tired."

"You said tired twice."

"Cause I'm double tired."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I'm delirious from fatigue."

I sighed and reached into my bag. "Would you do it for a Twiggy snack?" I said, pulling out a cat biscuit.

"Oh ha ha."

"Hm, I thought that would've worked..." I mumbled as Naruto cracked up laughing behind me.

"Guys, Stop mucking around and catch up" Sakura asked

"Hmph" Twigg objected, and she slumped onto the ground.

"Let's keep moving" Kakashi added, "There's a town up ahead where we can rest."

"Do I have to carry her again?" Itachi groaned.

I went over to her, "If you get there before us, I'll give you some more catnip." I whispered.

I saw her ears perk up. "Well…ok." And she took off on all fours, racing past the others.

They spun around with confused looks on their faces, I shrugged and ran to catch up.

We made it to the village in record time, Twigg sat waiting for us with her tail wagging. I laughed and tossed her a small handful of the green herb she loved so much.

She caught it and began rubbing it on her face and I could hear a faint purr. Suddenly she stopped and turned bright red as she noticed us watching her, then quickly shoved the leaf in her pocket.

"So you're really like a cat huh?" Naruto laughed

"No. Shut up."

"Then why were you purring?"

"I assume the ears and tail are attached to your nervous system, and that's how you control them, they must also be triggering certain chemicals in your brain." Sakura commented

"That…actually makes sense, and would explain a lot." I replied

"So Becca." Naruto butted in, "What kind of animal chemicals are in your brain?"

"Nice try."

"Hey, but we had a deal."

"You broke that deal."

"Huh? No I didn't"

I sighed, after 'hulking out' and going into nine-tails mode, Naruto of course, lost consciousness and couldn't remember a thing when he woke up, so he had no idea that he actually broke our deal.

"Well…you got angry."

"Oh, yeah, but I always get angry in a fight."

"That's not what I meant."

Luckily, we were interrupted by Kakashi's return saying that he had found us a hotel. We were all really exhausted so we followed him, eager for warm beds and a good rest.

The hotel had a hot springs, keen to relax but not wanting to attract stares, Twigg and I waited until the springs were empty before going. It was nice to finally just relax together. I think it was the first time since we were kidnapped.

"This is weird."

"What's weird about it?"

"You mean besides the fact we're in an Anime, where we have already seen what will happen, been turned into animals and are now running around on missions with ninjas?"

"Yes, besides all that."

"Well now that I'm all cat-like, I don't like baths."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, the water is weird and wet and everywhere."

"Stop complaining about everything, just because you had to leave your boyfriend."

That shut her up. For about three seconds.

"Gaara is not my boyfriend." She grumbled

"I never said Gaara."

She blushed. "Well…shut up."

"Ooh, that hurt, any more comebacks you wanna throw at me?"

"I hate you."

"I still have more catnip."

"Ok, I don't hate you hate you, I hate you in a love you kinda way."

I laughed, she was so easily controlled by such a small green herb. _I must only use this power for good._

The next day we awoke early and had a quick breakfast before packing our things to continue our journey, we then all met up outside.

"All right, we're all here, let's go." I said and started walking off, only to be grabbed by my collar and yanked back by Itachi.

"Kisame isn't here yet. He went to get some supplies."

"Right, so let's go before he comes back."

He gave me a look. "Kisame is my partner on this mission and he is accompanying us no matter what you say."

"Fine." I scowled, "Let's go find Nemo and then get out of here."

* * *

I crawled over to where Manny sat, we were taking a small break and the others appeared to be napping so I took the opportunity to voice my concerns, "Manny, what if we're too late?"

"What are you talking about? Sasuke goes crazy after he kills Itachi and Itachi is right there."

"I'm meaning what if they've already moved hideouts? We don't know where any of the others are."

"That could pose a small problem…"

"Small? These people think we know everything, if we don't know where Sasuke is then what if they stop believing us and things go back to the way they were and everyone dies again? I like some of these people."

"Good girl," _she really doesn't like the Akatsuki guys_, "now I'm sure that they'll still believe us, and either way we seem to have bridged that gap between them somewhat. Otherwise they wouldn't be working together to get Sasuke."

"That guy still bugs me, I don't get him."

"Amen."

"You guys speak really loudly," Kakashi murmured without even opening his eye, "so either go to sleep or stop talking."

"So…how long have you been awake?"

"Enough to hear your worries about us not believing you. Don't worry about any of that, you've already proved yourselves to us so you have nothing to worry about. If you don't know the locations of Orochimaru's hideouts that's fine, we have two members from the group he was once with. We'll find them sooner or later."

"Okay…"

"Now relax and go to sleep."

We waited till he started to breathe evenly before looking at each other again, Manny softly patted her lap, "Wanna go to sleep kitty?"

"You're a bitch."

"So no then?"

"Just go to sleep," I curled up in my own little ball and rested back against the tree, the best part about being half-cat is my tail makes an awesome portable pillow.


	12. Caves

We had finally reached the location of the hideout in the land of Lightening. We stood before a large cliff-face on the side of a huge mountain.

"So…where is the hideout again?" Naruto asked

"Somewhere inside the mountain." I answered

"Right. And how do we get in?"

"I think it's in one of those caves." I said, indicating to the many dark holes in the cliff-face.

"But which one?" Sakura asked, "There's so many."

"Hey." Twigg said, turning to Itachi, "Do you guys know how to get in?"

"Sorry, we've never been here before." He replied

"Oh brilliant. So what do we do now?"

"All those caves are up so high, and so far apart, it would take forever to search all of them." Sakura moaned

"Actually, it would take only a few minutes." Kakashi mentioned, "Becca?"

"What? Oh." I sighed, as I realised what he meant. "Yeah ok, if it will get us in there faster."

"Huh? What's he talking about? How is Manny supposed to find it faster?" Naruto asked

"I was kinda hoping to hold this over you for a little longer" I sighed as I took off my jacket and stretched out my wings, much to Naruto's surprise.

"Oh…wings."

"Yup, see you guys in a sec." I said and then took off, shooting up the mountain side, it felt really good to stretch my wings again, I had missed this.

I slowed down and glided past the caves, some were bigger than others, but none of them led to any hideouts, I landed in a deep cave and followed it into the mountain, I was starting to think that this was it until my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I realised I had reached a dead end.

"Oh just great." I mumbled to myself, then as I turned to leave, I stumbled in the dark and kicked my shin on a rock.

"Ah!" I moaned in pain, and clutched at my leg. "Stupid rock" I growled, and kicked at it, only hurting my leg further.

"I hate caves." I whimpered.

Suddenly I noticed a small lever behind the rock. I pushed it out of the way and pulled, revealing a door in the cave wall.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, and ran back out to the cave entrance, then jumped off and glided down where the others were waiting.

"Found it"

"Great, now let's go." Kakashi ordered

"Come on Twigg, I'll fly you up, these guys can do their chakra-walking-up-cliff-face thing."

"Awesome."

Once we had all gathered at the cave, I showed them how my awesome detective skills had uncovered the hidden lever, and we carefully made our way down the tunnel and into the mountain.

* * *

We were all travelling silently through the caves, I don't think it was because everyone was serious about what we were doing but more the fact that Manny and I were the only ones who started conversations and we were currently scared out of our minds. So basically no talking. I snuck my hand into Manny's as we walked further and further into the cavern, she gave it a quick squeeze but didn't say a word to me. She was definitely feeling the tension too. It wasn't long before we heard the clash of battle, and I knew exactly what was going on.

"He's fighting Orochimaru."

Immediately after I said it Itachi and Naruto took off down the halls without haste, I heard both Kakashi and Kisame sigh in unison before charging after them. That left me and Manny alone with Sakura…

_We are so dead if someone finds us._

There was another yell, this one was from Naruto, and she took off leaving the two non-ninjas by themselves in the middle of a hideout with no idea what to do. Manny began to clench her fists while my hand was still in it, "What kind of joke is this?"

"Did they just leave us here?"

"Yes…"

"What the hell do we do?"

"Go after them I guess."

And that's what we did. We ran off, not that we were scared, and followed the single path that the others would've had to follow. The sounds of the battle grew louder and louder and then suddenly went quiet as we reached them. The room and been trashed to put it simply while everyone was split into three groups; Akatsuki, Leaf shinobi and Sasuke. We stood in our own little group as everyone looked at us as if they were waiting for an answer. Sasuke began to glare at us, "Who the hell are they?"

"They're the reason I'm here to tell you the truth Sasuke," Itachi took the lead, trying to get close to his obviously cautious brother, "You need to calm down and listen to what they have to say."

_Oh shit he wants us to explain_, I answered because I was using Manny as a shield from the terrifying Uchiha, "You're going to become a creepy Physco that tries to go kill all his friends because he is swallowing in his own self-pity and then you'll help start a war that is going to kill lots of people and then after you finally find out the whole truth about what Itachi really did and the reason behind it and in the end you bring back the man you've just killed."

Manny smiled down at me, "Nice, all in one breath."

"I know, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Sasuke took it all in slowly before speaking, "How do you know all of this?"

"That's complicated and I don't want to tell you…"

"I'm not leaving until I get some answers."

Manny pulled me out from behind her roughly so she could whisper in my ear, "Do you reckon we should tell him?"

"I don't know, what do you think?" I returned her whisper.

"I think we keep it to yourselves for now so we still have leverage until we get out of here."

"See this is why you are the brains of our little operation."

"I know I am."

"What are you two talking about?!"

It was kinda funny to hear both the Uchihas speaking at once but now was not the time for giggling at weird sounds. Now was the time to get the hell out of a broken hideout with a giant dead snake mutant man lying in it, and I think Manny to sense so too. No one else did though. They all seemed to think now was the time to stare at us waiting for an answer that I was not going to give them. Manny did, "We're talking about stuff you're not going know about until we get the hell out of here and go back to the Leaf."

Oh boy, Sasuke did not like that, "Did you just tell me what to do?"

"Yes and Twiggy and I are leaving now so follow if you please."

* * *

We miraculously found our way back to the cave entrance and both took a deep breath. Then looked around to see the others following.

"Oh thank God." I sighed quietly in relief, "I thought for a second they wouldn't come."

Sasuke stepped out and folded his arms, "Just tell me what you know, and how you know it."

"I don't think this is exactly a safe place to talk, we are literally on the doorstep of Orochimaru's hideout, and I don't want to be interrupted."

He sighed, "Very well, we'll go down and speak in the forest."

"Alright then, we'll meet you down there." I said, and I grabbed Twigg and jumped off the cliff.

"Oh wait," I swooped around and grabbed Itachi as well.

He was heavy, so our descent was a lot faster. We landed roughly and I stumbled but managed to stay on my feet.

"So what do we do now?" Twigg asked. "And why did you grab Itachi?"

"I was just about to ask the same thing." Itachi added

"Because I just wanted to run over some things first before we explain anything to Sasuke."

"Ok, so what are we going to tell him?" Twigg asked

"I have no idea, I'm just glad for the distraction so we can figure it out."

"Well think fast, cause they're coming."

"Ok ok, we're keeping the whole 'Anime' thing a secret, even though Itachi already knows…" I said glaring at Twigg.

"Yeah…sorry."

"Ok, so we just tell him what _would_ have happened, and have Itachi explain the situation so we can avoid the whole crazy-Sasuke part."

"I thought we were going to do that all along?"

"Yeah but now it's an actual plan, and now Itachi knows it."

"Ok, I will tell him the truth about our clan." Itachi said

"And don't say anything about what Twigg told you." I said in my hopefully threatening voice.

"I doubt he would believe me anyway."

"I'm surprised _you_ believed it" I muttered.

At that moment, we were re-joined by the others.

"Ok, Sasuke, like I said inside, you're going to go all Physco and start a war. So we're here to uh…stop you from going crazy."

"And why should I believe that? How would you know what I'm going to do?"

"We've already proven that we know the things that are going to happen." I said, "And we've managed to save a few lives. Now we want to save more by stopping you from going nuts."

He folded his arms and looked away.

"Listen, I know you did all this because you kinda hate Itachi's guts."

"He killed my entire clan." Sasuke interrupted

"But believe it or not, he actually had a good reason for his actions, unlike you."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I hate to say it, but you're a sad little emo git who goes on a rampage because you can't handle the truth."

He was fuming now

"And what Manny _meant_ to say was that, you um…kinda get angry but that's why we're here to straighten things out. Right Itachi?" Twigg jumped in, frantically motioning at Itachi.

"Sasuke, the Uchiha clan was planning to overthrow Konoha, as an ANBU I was tasked with spying on the village, I didn't want to kill them, but I had to. Mother and father understood that. I lied to you, because I wanted you to grow stronger out of hatred for me, I would rather you hated me and loved your clan, rather than know the truth. I'm sorry Sasuke, but these girls know the truth and I believe them."

Sasuke looked torn. "Is…is that true?"

"I'm sorry Sasuke, it's true."

"Ok, big family reunion and stuff, but we should probably get out of here before Orochimaru decides to make an appearance." I said

"Correction Manny," Twigg just had to call me out over something so minor, "he's already dead, Sasuke killed him."

"Are you coming Sasuke?" Naruto asked

"I...yes."

"Then let's go." Kakashi ordered and we took off into the forest.

* * *

This is probably the most awkward travel ever. Because Sasuke is here the Leaf shinobi don't want to say something to set him off, Kisame doesn't like him from the looks of it, and Itachi hasn't found the words to say to his little brother yet. He had shown Sasuke everything he did when we had rested last night and ever since then the younger Uchiha has been walking with Manny and I.

"So…" he randomly said, "where are you guys from?"

Many started laughing, "Is the great Sasuke Uchiha trying to make small talk with us?"

"You have a problem with it?"

"It's just funny. Mr Big Silent Man is trying to talk to little old us."

"I want to know how you knew all of that, and if this is the only way to get that information than so be it."

"What by talking to us? Man your ego must be huge."

"Why do you have wings?"

"Cause I can."

This conversation is really starting to bore me, it was going nowhere, but they seemed to be having fun arguing with each other so I didn't say anything. Instead I chose to go bug Naruto, mainly because I think Manny planted some catnip in his pockets. _I have to find a way to get off this thing,_ "Hey, hey Naruto. I'm bored, what do you want to do?"

"I was kind of focusing on what to say to Sasuke."

"Meh, he's busy arguing with Manny," I grabbed his sleeve and started pulling, "come on let's do something…"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, you're a ninja and I'm a cat. What can we do?"

"Ever tried jumping through the trees?"

"No."

"Let's do that then," he jumped into the trees, "Come on."

I dropped to all four and leapt, landing one branch higher than he did. _I'm one awesome cat_. He smirked at me, bouncing off a few trees then dropping back. He motioned through the trees to the giant one that was distinguishable, "First one there wins."

I slowly lowered myself, and stared down my target. I had cat like instincts, I've tested them, so all I had to do was start running and know that I was always going to land on my feet. The others below us just kept walking like they didn't care, but they did care and I know this because Kakashi counted for us, "Three…two…one…go!"

We ran, we ran really fast. I could only just see the branches as I leapt through the trees, loving the feel of landing and pouncing all over again. I watched the large tree grow forever closer and I couldn't even see Naruto as I ran through the trees. The large tree arrived under my hands and I leapt onto one of the branches and smiled successfully, Naruto landed just after I did, "No fair, you're a cat."

"Suck it bitch I win."

We had to wait for the dawdlers to catch up but when they did I waved to Manny, "I won‼"

"I saw, but I can totally fly faster."

"Pffft, doubt it."

"Can too."

"Cannot."

Kakashi shook his head and passed Itachi and Kisame some rope things, "Attach one end to your hand and one to theirs, they're not allowed to run off."

"Alright."

"Come here cat."


	13. Kidnapped Again!

We finally arrived at the Hidden Leaf village, Sasuke, Itachi and Kakashi went straight to Tsunade's office while the rest of us waited outside.

"Man, I finally get my best friend back and Grandma Tsunade is keeping him all to herself." Naruto grumbled.

"Hey, at least we got him back." Sakura replied

"Yeah, yeah."

I went over and joined Twigg who was sitting on the ground with her back to the wall.

"So, we got Sasuke."

"Yup."

"So now what?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking that."

"Huh? What do you guys mean?" Naruto asked

"Well, we're not even from here, and we weren't born like this." I explained,

"Yeah so…"

_God he's dumb._

"How the hell are we supposed to get back to normal so we can go home? Then again, how do we even get home?"

"That bastard is the only one who knows how." Twigg cursed

I sighed. "Well we know he's looking for us, so I guess that makes him easier to find."

"But then what?"

"Ok, we know he's strong and fast and evil right?"

"Yeah, he's pretty ugly too."

"Right. So we just have to get stronger and faster than him."

"But not uglier."

"No Twigg, not uglier."

"But what will that achieve?" Sakura asked, "How will that get you home?"

"Easy, we let him find us, then kick his ugly ass until he talks." I said with a grin

"I'm ok with that." Twigg agreed

We both felt a lot better knowing we had some course of action as to how to get home, and how to get back to normal.

"My chakra control is getting better too, so maybe if we know how to get home, we could do it ourselves, and maybe we could even come back to visit."

That made her ears perk up.

"That would be awesome." She smiled.

"Plus, I'm tempted to go home and watch the show to see if anything changed or not." I whispered, so only she could hear me.

"Do you think we _did_ change anything back home?"

I shrugged.

"Now what are they whispering about." Naruto grumbled, "Why do girls always do that?"

We rolled our eyes, and then stood up as Kakashi stepped out.

"All right, everything's sorted now guys."

Naruto raced inside before any of us could even move.

"So grandma, is Sasuke off the hook? Everything's ok now right?"

Lady Tsunade looked up over her hands that she was resting her head in.

"Sasuke is allowed back in the village and will resume his ninja training; however as punishment for abandoning the village, I've ordered him to do several low ranked missions around the village."

Sasuke groaned from where he stood in the corner of the room, I couldn't help but smirk a little.

"And now I have some things to discuss with these two," she said, indicating at me and Twigg, "So if the rest of you would please leave."

Tsunade waited until everyone had gone and the door was closed before speaking.

"Now what am I going to do with you?"

"Huh? You're not going to punish us too are you?"

"What? No. But you're not from this village, and you haven't explained where you are from, who you really are, or how you knew so much about well, the future."

"Well we actually have a plan to get home now." I said, "We want to be trained so we're strong enough, then when that…uh, the guy who kidnapped us, when he comes for us again, we'll be ready to take him down."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Then hopefully he can explain the procedure he used to change us like this, and show us how to get home."

"I see, and you want to be trained here?"

"Well, we already started some sort of training in the Hidden Sand village…" Twigg spoke up

"Very well, I'll arrange someone to escort you there."

"Actually…" I interrupted, "We would get there faster without one, I can just fly us over there in less than a day."

She raised an eyebrow, "So you have been making good use of your wings."

"Well, I got them, might as well use them."

She sighed, "Very well, you can go without an escort, but try to stay out of trouble, go straight there, and don't stray."

"Right, will do."

"Yes. Thank you."

And with that, we left her office and ran to back our bags.

* * *

We stood at the gates of the Leaf, Naruto and Sakura were there to say goodbye to us. Sakura was currently hugging, and trying to pat, me while cooing, "Come back soon okay? Don't leave us all lonely now, we have to pay you back remember?"

"Sakura let me go."

"Don't act like you don't care…"

Manny managed to pry her off of me so we could give a final wave, she smiled at the frowning duo but I knew she was just as upset, "We'll try and visit before we go home, see you around?"

"Yeah, bye guys."

"Don't forget you said you would come back."

I held tightly onto Manny's hands as she took flight, we found this the easiest way to travel without my tail getting in her way one way or the other. I couldn't help but look back at the Leaf village and wonder if we would go back, and if we did how they would react.

"You alright down there Twiggy?"

"Yeah, just thinking about what we did and how their lives will turn out now."

"It should be better."

"But that always goes wrong in Anime."

"I wonder what would happen this time…"

I giggled lightly, "Maybe dragons will fly out of nowhere and attack them. That would really suck."

"You think they'd make it through?"

"Of course, otherwise the show would be over."

"I guess that's true…"

The village was well out of sight now, only masses of trees could be seen beneath us as we soared towards the Sand. I knew that we were going to be back in the village in no time so there was nothing left to worry about. That was until I felt something whoosh past my face. I looked up at Manny, who felt it too, with the simple question, "What the hell was that?"

"I have no-FUCK‼"

"Manny?" we started lilting lightly before getting back on course, "What's wrong?"

"My wing."

"What?"

"FUCK‼"

Red liquid splashed onto my nose, I looked up to see two arrows sticking through her wing and she really wasn't coping with it.

"Manny turn back now, we can't land and you can't keep going like this."

"It fucking hurts…wait, you know something?"

"You know this necklace thing…"

"Oh God," she wavered again but luckily she dodged another arrow by doing so, "Please tell me that was from Gaara, I will arrange your wedding if you say so."

"One; enough with the couple jokes, we're just friends. Two; I kinda ran into that sick freak and he put it on me."

"ELISHIA!"

"I'm sorry okay, shit another arrow."

She tried to move out of the way again but as her wings went up the arrow went through and locked them into place, we were going down like a couple of bricks holding hands. We were in so much trouble because we didn't bring a parachute and now we had to fight over who was going to be the pillow.

* * *

I sat up, dizzy from the fall, I managed to get shakily to my feet and then helped Elishia to hers, it seems her cat-like reflexes to land on her feet don't work as well when someone else lands on top of you.

The white feathers on my wings were stained red as blood dripped from the protruding arrows, and I felt an unbearable aching pain.

"Who the hell shot me?" I said, looking around

"We have to get out of here." Elishia urged, "Before he finds us."

"Please don't tell me…"

"Yes, the necklace is a tracker."

"Elishia!"

"I'm sorry!"

"You should have said something!"

"Like it would have mattered, the damn thing won't come off."

"But we could have disabled it or blocked the signal or something."

Her ears perked up. "Someone's coming." She whispered, "We have to go."

"You go, run to the Sand Village and get help."

"What about you?"

"I can't fly and you can't carry me, I'd only slow you down. Just go."

"But-"

"I'll hide and if he doesn't find me then maybe he'll follow your tracker, either way, we need one of us to get away to get help now GO." I said and pushed her into the trees.

"I'll be back, I promise."

"Just run."

She turned around and ran away on all fours while I desperately searched for a place to hide, there were only trees and shrubs. I stumbled over to a dense bush and crawled inside, biting my lip to stop from crying out in pain as my injured wings scraped along the branches.

I lay quietly and waited until I could hear footsteps and a pair of feet appeared. I held my breath, desperate not to make a sound.

The feet stood there, then turned and walked away. I let out a sigh, then was suddenly grabbed from behind and yanked out of the bush.

"Hello pretty birdie."

I screamed as he pulled me back by my hair and threw me to the ground.

"It was such a shame to damage my fine work." He said, and gingerly stroked my wing, "But I'll patch you up, don't worry."

"You're a psychopath." I spat.

"You've lost a lot of blood," he continued, ignoring me. "Just as well, it led me right to you."

I cursed as I noticed the trail of splattered blood that led to the shrub where I had hid.

"Ok, now you've got me. What do you want with me?"

"I want to finish what I started."

I looked at him in horror. "Why are you doing this?"

"You two were my first patients to survive, let's see if your luck will continue."

"You're a freak."

"Now, now, that's no way to talk to your master."

"What the hell are you on?"

"I created you, and I can destroy you just as easily."

"Wow, you really are a lunatic, and you didn't create me, you just added to me."

"Come now." He said, pulling me up off the ground. "Let's get you secured, then I can go get that little pussy cat."

He tied my hands behind my back and led me through the forest until we came to a small road where a horse and cart stood waiting.

He pushed me into the back of the cart and shut the door.

Angrily I slipped my hands under my feet so they were now in front of me and began trying to undo the knots with my teeth. _Oh hell no, I am not being kidnapped AGAIN._

I tugged at the knot with my teeth until it came free then tried to open the cart doors, but they were locked tight. I slammed my weight against them but only managed to fall back with a pain in my side.

The cart jolted and I was thrown over, landing on my back and sending a surge of white hot pain running through my wings. I noticed a small crack in the wood at the bottom of the cart.

_At least Twigg got away, she'll get help. But how will she find me?_ I put my eye to the crack in the floor and saw the road racing past. _If he found me with my blood, then so will they._

I twisted round and grabbed hold of one of the arrows sticking out of my wing, I snapped the head off, and then took a deep breath before pulling it out. God that hurt like hell.

I quickly tore off the bottom of my shirt and dabbed at the wound, then squeezed the material over the crack, letting the blood fall out. _This should leave a decent trail; anyone tracking me would be an idiot not to follow it._

I repeated the process, dabbing at the wound and squeezing the blood out the crack. _Please God let this work._

* * *

I don't know how long I've been running but it just feels like it's too long. I shouldn't have left her behind while she was wounded, it was stupid and she could really be in trouble right now. I didn't even pause for a second as I ran through the village gates; I knew where I was going and who I was going to see.

I just hoped he was calm enough to hear me out.

It was lucky that I could remember where the mansion was and where he would most likely be hiding, he told me he liked to watch over his village from the very roof where he could see everything and everyone. And it was no surprise he had seen me running this way. Gaara turned to face me with a frown on his face, "In a hurry to get back?"

"Gaara listen, I know that you're upset…"

"Upset? I had two escorts come back to me to say they ran into the Akatsuki, lost, and then couldn't find any trace of you or Rebecca. I think I have the right to be upset. I thought you were going to listen to me and not get into trouble."

"Gaara I know…"

"You know? Then why did you do the exact opposite of what I asked?"

"Listen to me for just one second."

"Not until you answer my question."

I have never felt like strangling anyone more in my life, "Look, this doesn't matter…"

"I think it does."

"DON'T INTURRUPT ME‼"

He was taken back slightly, is frowning face turning to concern, "What's wrong?"

"We were on our way back here, Manny was flying and carrying me, and then these arrows came out of nowhere. Manny got hit and we went down, we realised that it could've be the bastard who did this to us because of this stupid fucking tracking device around my neck and I can't get rid of it," I let my tears fall down my face, this was all my fault, "she couldn't get away so she told me to come get help when I should've stayed. What if he's got her? What if we never find her again?"

Before he could answer me Kankuro came running in after me with a small smile on his face, "You came streaming through like your ass was on fire. What's up kitty?"

"Kankuro," Gaara knew exactly what to do, which was great because I was a blubbering mess, "get Temari and round up a couple of teams, Rebecca has been most likely kidnapped and we're getting her back."

"Right."

"And you are not leaving my sight," he grabbed my hand and pulled me away, "we're going to send a letter to the Hokage so they can keep an eye out for her too so you don't have to cry anymore, we'll get her back. Then we'll focus on getting that thing off you."

"Th-thank you." _I really owe him one now._


	14. Normand

_I really hope this blood trail works, because I have no clue where I am._

We had been travelling for a while now and the blood dripping from my wings had hardened, desperate to keep the blood trail, I grabbed one of the broken arrows I had pulled from my wings and sliced my hand. Biting my lip to stop from crying out.

I squeezed the fresh blood out the gap and lay down. My wings ached, my entire body hurt from the fall and now my hand was searing with pain. I groaned, this has _not_ been my day.

I began to feel dizzy and the cart I was in began to spin.

At first I thought we had fallen off the track, but then I realised that nothing else was moving, _Oh crap, I think I'm gonna-_

I couldn't even finish my thought before I fainted from the pain and blood loss.

When I awoke, I found myself in a dark room, the only light I had was a small lantern hanging from the ceiling. I stood shakily to my feet and noticed that my hand and wings had been bandaged. I tried to move but soon realised that my foot was chained to the wall which was solid rock, from this I assumed we were in some kind of cave, though I had no idea where, or if we were even above ground.

I pulled on the chain around my ankle but it was locked tight.

"I see you're awake."

I snapped my head around as _he_ entered.

"It seems I need more than just rope to restrain you, my angel."

"Who _are_ you?" I asked, trying not to gag from his stupid pet names. I figured that while I'm here, I might as well find out as much information as I could.

"Oh how impolite, I haven't even introduced myself, then again, neither have you, Rebecca."

_Right, so he knew my name, probably from overhearing Elishia and I talking to each other._

"So you know who I am, now who the hell are you?"

"I am your master."

"I meant what's your name."

"My name is not important."

"Why? Is it embarrassing? Or just something really simple? Is it Greg?"

"It is not Greg."

"Yeah, you don't look like a Greg. How about Ronald?"

"If it will keep you quiet then my name is Normand."

"Seriously? Did your parents hate you?"

"But that is not important," he said, ignoring me, "What's important is discovering the thing that allowed you to survive."

"Right, so me and Twigg were the first of your uh…patients, to survive the operations?"

"Correct."

"And you want to know why?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

"So that my next operations will also be a success."

"No, I meant why the hell are you operating on people like this?"

"That's none of your concern."

"As one of the people you operated on, I think it is." I retorted

"Let's just say it's a hobby of mine."

"You need to get yourself a better hobby Normand, have you tried stamp collecting?"

"Quiet, from now on you will call me master."

"That's not going to happen."

"It is if you want your stay here to be less painful."

"See but I'm not planning to stay long."

"I don't care what your plans are."

"Elishia has gone to get help, she _will_ find me."

"I doubt that."

I glared at him.

"Now if you don't mind, I have work to do." And with that he turned and left, leaving the cave through a small door, I heard the lock click and then his footsteps faded away.

I frantically looked around for something, _anything_, that could help me. But the room was bare except for the lantern swinging in the centre of the room.

My bag had been taken off me, and he had even removed the pins from my hair, so I had absolutely nothing to pick the lock with.

_How long was I out?_ For all I knew, we were so far from the trail I had left, I didn't even know what day it was. I groaned and slumped against the wall. It was all up to Elishia now.

* * *

I don't even know how long it's been, I've just been going through the basic motions. No one had any news about Manny saying that the Leaf ninja tried to track her but didn't have her smell so they got nowhere. Everything was really starting to look hopeless. It didn't help that Gaara didn't trust me alone so he found a leash and attached it to what was dubbed my collar and has been dragging me around everywhere with him. I felt like a pet.

"Matsuri, send this reply to the Hokage and tell her I'll be leaving in a couple of days."

"Yes Lord Kazekage."

I looked up from my corner with a question, "Where are you going?"

He looked at me like I had asked if the sun was hot, "_We_ are going to the Leaf, a new report has come in about a trail of blood leading through the woods. They tried to follow it but it split off on other trails so I'm going to check one trail on the way and meet up with one of their teams. You, of course, are coming with me so you don't do something stupid."

"Why? I can't fight, you've been training me but I've never hit you once."

"I've been training to make you even faster than you already are so, should the situation arise, you can get out before you get hurt."

"So you've achieved nothing with me?"

He sighed gently then changed subjects, "Do you have any idea where he would've taken her?"

"Nope, when we woke up all we saw was a small room," he gave my leash a tug and I followed him out the door, "we climbed out a window. We were in the middle of the forest, headed towards the sound of water and that's where we came across Naruto and Jiraiya. I can't give you more than that."

"Why weren't you paying more attention to detail?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think I'd have to worry about being kidnapped **again** by some Physco who turned me into a cat. Next time it happens I'll be sure to ask if I can take a good look around first."

"No need to get sarcastic."

"I have every need to get sarcastic, you say some very stupid things for a Kage."

"You say some very stupid things for a cat."

"Shut up!"

"So I win then?"

"Grrrr," I pounced on his back and pushed him to the ground, trying to run off but he still had a firm grip on my leash, "let go of me."

"Nope."

"This is a form of kidnapping."

"You're used to it," he stood up, brushed himself off, then pulled the leash so close that I was forced to walk beside him, "and you're an idiot for thinking you could run off like that."

"Look, I don't want to be near you because you're pissing me off."

"You're a big girl, you'll get over it."

"UGH‼ YOU SUCKY SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK‼"

"Are you finished?"

_New plan of action, _"…"

"What? Not talking to me now?"

"…"

He frowned slightly, poking my side but I bit my lip and didn't react. No matter how much I wanted to laugh. Eventually he loosened the leash enough for me to walk a few steps behind him. We walked in silence to yet another one of his deathly boring meetings where I get to sit in a corner and be ignored by everyone.

* * *

Normand returned the next day, _At least I think a day had passed_, and walked straight over to me, I tried to move away but was still chained to the wall. He drew a key from his pocket and unlocked the chain from its bolt in the wall. Then told me to get to my feet.

"What for?" I asked, eying the chain in his hand nervously.

"I'm taking you to your new room."

"Is it outside, I'd much prefer to be outside."

He yanked on the chain around my ankle and I stumbled forward. "Follow." He commanded, then turned and walked out the door. I tried to resist, but just ended up being dragged by my ankle which was _not_ comfortable.

He lead me to a large, round room with a high ceiling. There were several ledges along the walls, and in the centre of the room was a large circular cage.

"This is where you'll be staying."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"It should be comfortable."

"It's a giant birdcage."

"Would you rather a normal sized one?"

"I hate you. I hate you so much."

He dragged me over to the cage and pushed me inside, then removed the chain from my ankle, replacing it with a metal cuff, before shutting and locking the door.

"Let me out." I yelled, grabbing the bars.

"Quiet now, pretty birdie." He cooed, then pulled a lever and the cage was lifted into the air where it swung gently before coming to a stop.

"You're a sick freak."

"I'll see you tomorrow to run some tests, don't strain your wings too much." And then turned to leave before stopping at the door. "Oh and by the way, with a simple push of a button, that cage will come crashing to the ground with you in it. So there's just a thought to make you behave." And then he left, shutting the door behind him.

_Oh god I hate him with every fibre of my being._ I looked around the cage, there was a jug of water next to a bowl, I went to investigate and found that the bowl was filled with seeds, nuts, and berries.

_He's treating me like an actual bird._

I sat down and tried to pull the cuff off my ankle, it wouldn't budge, I assumed it was a tracker just like Elishia's collar. _He's not taking any precautions._ I sighed and ate a handful of the seed-berry mix. I might be here a while.

* * *

"And yet another meeting in which you achieved nothing," I spoke to Kankuro because he was at the meeting and I wasn't talking to Gaara, "Why do you go if that's all you do?"

"My little brother is the Kazekage, what else can I do?"

"Fake being sick."

"Tried that, it didn't end well."

My collar was tugged roughly in the other direction but I grabbed Kankuro's sleeve so I couldn't be dragged away, "Anyway, wherever you're going take me with you."

"I think Gaara wants you to go the other way…"

"I don't care," I pulled slightly harder on his sleeve before clicking to something, "Wait, you're good with your hands right?"

He looked to his brother then back to me, "No?"

"Yes you are, you make puppets and shit like that."

"Oh! Yeah, I am."

"Do you think you would be able to get this collar off of me?" I fell into him as Gaara finally let up on the leash, I gave him a quick glare before looking back to Kankuro, "Do you think you could?"

"I could give it a try…"

"Yay‼"

I pushed him all the way to his bedroom so he could use any of the gadgets he needed without me having to get up. I sat on the bed and looked at the two boys standing in the doorway, Gaara passed the leash to his brother before turning around, "I've got to put the minutes from the meeting into my office, I'll be back after that. Keep an eye on her."

"Sure thing," Kankuro gave his brother a small wave before moving over and taking the leash off. He pushed my hair over my shoulder and began to examine the collar around my neck, after a few hm's he got up and grabbed a few tools before returning and working on the collar. I heard him grunt a struggle a few times but nothing seemed to be loosening. He tampered with it a while longer before getting up and dropping a small dot with some wires into my hands.

"What's that?"

"The tracking device, the collar has some Jutsu on it so I could take it off but then I thought what if we trick the sick bastard who turned you into a cat."

"I'm listening." I turned around to face him head on.

He picked the tracking device out of my hands and slipped it into my pants pocket, I had been given three quarter black pants and black tank top as hand-me-downs from Temari, "We get him to see you, seeing the collar completely intact and the tracking device working, you manage to slip away, take the tracking device out of your pocket and put in on another creature. While he's out hunting that down you are free to go and search for Rebecca."

"Kankuro…"

"Yeah?"

"I FREAKING LOVE YOU‼" I wrapped my arms around his laughing shoulders, he just gave me the best gift in the entire world. The freedom to go find _my_ friend. I heard a small cough from the doorway and saw Gaara standing there looking as awkward as usual, I just smiled happily at him, "Your brother is amazing."

"I heard, come on I have work to do."

"Can I hang out with Kankuro a little bit more?"

"Whatever."

_I wonder why he's so shitty_, "Thank you Gaara."

* * *

Normand returned later, he pulled the lever that lowered the cage, then unlocked the door and attached a long chain to the cuff around my ankle.

"We're going to run some tests."

"What kind of tests?"

"Oh, you'll see."

"Ok, what's all this for?"

"You're going to fly for me."

"My wing is still injured."

"It should be fine, I sedated you, so you were unconscious for a couple days and you're all healed now."

"How long have I been here?" I asked.

"About five days."

I groaned, I hadn't even realised.

"Now fly."

"Why?"

"Just do it," he sighed then pulled out a knife, "Or do you need some persuading?"

"Geez, ok." I said and stretched out my wings, then I pulled them down hard, shooting myself upwards and flew around the room, coming to land on one of the ledges near the ceiling.

From above, I saw him pull out a notebook and write something. _What is he planning?_

"Now return." He commanded.

"I'd rather not, I prefer it up here away from you."

He yanked on the chain and I tumbled off the ledge, I twisted round and spread my wings out, gliding to the floor.

"Ok, so I flew up and came back. Was that what you wanted?"

"It was."

"So can I go now?"

"Sure."

"Wait, really?"

"No."

I glared at him.

He pulled out a tape measure and recorded my height and wingspan, then weighed me.

I went along with his stupid tests, mostly to avoid making him 'persuade' me, but I also wanted to put him in a false sense of security, maybe if he thinks I'll cooperate, then he'll loosen some of the restrictions he's placed on me.

"So Normand." I said, as he took a blood sample from my arm.

"I told you to call me master." He growled.

"Right, uh, anyway, why did you kidnap people from my world and bring them here?"

"That's none of your business."

"I thought we had agreed that it was my business seeing as how I'm involved."

He sighed, "Your world is like, the creator of this world."

"You mean the anime?"

"Yes."

"So how is that relevant?"

"People from your world possess massive amounts of chakra, and it's unique, normally a person's chakra is one of the elements, fire, water, wind, lightening, and earth."

"Right."

"Well I discovered that in your world, you don't have chakra."

"Yup."

"But when you bring someone from that world to this one, their chakra potential is unleashed, and they have a combination of all five."

"Really? Ok, but why did you bring people here to turn them into animals?"

"Because all my patients kept dying, once I discovered your world, I realised that I could find a patient who might survive."

"Ok, I guess that makes sense." _Just keep him talking._ "So uh, how did you manage to cross between the worlds?"

"Enough talk." He said, "back to your cage."

I sighed, and returned to the cage, where he locked the door and then raised it into the air.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Unfortunately." I mumbled.

After he left, I sat down and ate some more of the bird food he had left, not surprisingly, it was actually really yum.

_At least he's talking, and now I know why he kidnapped us from our world and brought us here, because we have chakra that's in the form of all five elements._

I peered down through the bars of my cage to make sure he was gone.

_Well if my chakra is that special, then I might as well use it._

I stood next to the bars of my cage and concentrated hard, sending as much chakra to my feet as I could, I lifted my foot and kicked at the bars, denting them.

_Yes! Now if I could only break through, I might actually escape, and I've only got till morning before Normand returns. _

I took a deep breath and concentrated hard, kicking the bars again. The bars bent back and I could almost squeeze through, once more and I'm out. I kicked again, breaking one of the bars completely and bending the others back. I stepped out and spread my wings, gliding to the floor.

I fist pumped the air, glad to be out, now I only have to break down this door, and any others in my way, then figure out where I am and how to get back to the Hidden Sand, all without alerting Normand as to my escape.

Easy peasy.


	15. His Pets

**A.N. HEY HO EVERYONE, sorry to be annoying but I feel like I need to reiterate that this is a collaboration story with becccabandicoot and that she deserves so much credit for this story so please if you want to be awesome. Let her know in the reviews or PM her pretty pretty pretty please 3**

* * *

_Well this is totally fun…_

Normally I would've said that out loud but Gaara was being such a girl and refused to talk to me, his exact words at the start of this trip was…

"_This journey is going to take at least a couple of days. I'm tired so we're not going to speak until we reach the group from the Leaf."_

…and that was just plain pissing me off because I'm so bored. The guy put me on a leash, the least he can do is talk to me while he drags me through the forest. Not very nicely either. I finally gave up on the silent treatment and decided to break it, "Gaara why are you mad at me?"

"…"

"Is this about the escort thing?"

"…"

I sighed, "Listen, Itachi and Kisame came out of nowhere and told us that we had to go with them. We managed to convince them to take us to the Leaf but they wouldn't listen about the whole escort thing, it wasn't our fault."

"…"

"Ugh! You're hopeless."

"…"

I racked my brain for something that would make him talk, something, anything, to make him talk to me again.

"Hey Gaara."

"…"

"Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? You know, drifting though the wind, wanting to start again?"

"…"

"What's your favourite colour?"

"…"

"Hmm, I never really thought about it but I reckon this tail should hurt when I sit down but that doesn't happen."

"…"

"I had sexual relations with one of your shinobi."

"What?"

"Ha!" I poked his stunned face, "Made you talk."

"Ugh."

"Come on Gaara, we're friends aren't we?"

"…"

"Aren't we?"

"I thought we were, but then you never listen to a word I say to you."

"What makes you think that?"

"Number one; you ran out of hospital when I told you not to. Number two; after you came back I asked you to tell me _everything_, you told me nothing. Number three; when you were rolling around on my bed hissing at me about some stupid herb I told you why it upset me…"

"I got that one, you were jealous of an herb."

"I thought that it was something special for just us, me making you purr, I didn't like being cheated by a plant."

"Oh…that's a long list."

"It's not finished. Number four; you promised me you were going to stay with the escorts but you went for a fly with Rebecca instead. Number five; I said I wanted you to stay with me so I could keep an eye on you then you decide you want to hang out with my older brother instead. Number six; I said I didn't want to talk until we got to the Leaf shinobi because I'm tired and just needed a few hours of peace."

"You didn't say that part!"

"Yes I did, you weren't even listening were you?"

I tugged at the collar lightly before turning my attention back to the conversation at hand, "I was I just forgot okay? I mean you've been mad at me and I hate it, I hate you being mad at me."

"Then why do you do things that anger me?"

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I don't mean to I'm just an annoying person, I've heard it from everyone, so please don't take it personally. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"You don't have to, I'm just over reactin-"

"What can I do to make it up to you?"

He sighed lightly, reaching over and cupping my face gently, "Just promise me you'll do as I say from now on."

"I promise."

"Then everything has been sorted out," he pulled back and gave my leash a more gentle tug, "now let's go pretty kitty."

"So you're the one she will allow to call pretty kitty? I must say I'm a little jealous."

I froze at the voice and ducked behind Gaara, he didn't seem the least bit fazed at the new voice but I knew he could tell I was scared. He wrapped one arm around me and whispered, "Is that the sick bastard that turned you into my pretty kitty?"

"Yeah…"

"I'll sort him out," he looked at the trees with a confused look on his face, "Come out of hiding coward."

"So the great Kazekage can't sense me? Well I bet you can't sense him either."

Out of nowhere a creature crashed through the trees. It looked like it was human at one point but it had giant bull horns, a melting face, it was half the size of one of the giant trees and you could smell that it was dying. Gaara jumped us into one of the trees but the creature charge after us. It knocked the tree and it began to fall down. The thing was strong whatever it was.

"He was one of my experiments but something went wrong," the creep cackled from his hiding place, "He seems to follow orders but only when I say kill, and right now he's after you Lord Gaara."

Gaara bounced us into another tree and handed me my leash, "You have to stay here, only move if the old man comes after you. I don't want you to come after me no matter what happens."

"But-"

"Promise me."

I swallowed, "I promise."

He jumped down and started fighting the thing, I just stood there and watched him move so skilfully like he had done in training. The more I watched the more I realised he had been going easy on me in training. Really easy.

"Forget someone?"

I gasped and jumped out of the tree and onto the next, the old creep following me every step of the way. I kept one eye of Gaara's sandy fight and the other on the creep following me, I had to keep away from him. I dived into one of the bushes and kept low, I had to hide but I couldn't help but feel like I missed something.

_Oh shit, the tracking device is still in my pocket._

My leash yanked me out of the bush and into the arms of that disgusting old man. He looked at the thing in his hand before nodding approval, "This is turning out even better than I planned."

"Let me go."

"No, you're coming with me," he pulled again, dragging my fighting person away, "so yell all you want because no one can help you now."

_I don't want to go_, "GAARA‼"

"He's too busy, come on pretty kitty."

"GAARA, HELP ME‼"

* * *

OK, I managed to break down the first door with no problem, but no where the hell am I? these corridors just wind on and on, and I have no idea how to get out of here. I peered round every corner before turning into the next passage, scared out of my mind that I might run into Normand, it's weird that someone with such a ridiculous name could be so terrifying, but after everything he's done, and not to mention these dark corridors inside a mountain, or cave or wherever the hell I was, I was terrified out of my mind.

I found a door and tried the handle, it was locked. Hoping that this was the way out, I gathered up my chakra in my fist and punched through the door, then squeezed through the hole I had just made.

_If that door was locked, then it must lead to the exit, or something important._

I stood up and looked around the room I had just entered, it was filled with shelves covered in a strange assortment of instruments jars with weird fleshy things inside.

"Oh my God." I whispered as I looked around, there was a metal surgical table sitting in the middle of the room next to a table covered in many surgical tools and equipment. I looked over all the equipment, hoping that there would be something here that would explain how he had performed the operations on us.

I looked through the weird machinery and instruments, then went over to a set of drawers and searched through them, I found a notebook full and flipped through it, there were notes on several different surgeries, he had tried altering several other kids and there were profiles on each one, explaining in detail the procedures they had undergone and cause of death.

I flipped through the book, recognising some of the names from the reports I had seen on the news then stopped when I reached the pages on me and Elishia, there were several notes on how he had altered us and a few side notes on what to do next. I scanned through the notes and saw that he was testing me to see how I could interact with the wings, and planning to do the same with Elishia, and then experiment with other animal characteristics on other people.

"You sick freak" I muttered under my breath. But these notes were important, if I got them to Lady Tsunade then maybe she could change us back. I took the notebook and tucked it into my pocket, then quickly ran out of the room and back into the hallway.

_I really need to get out of here before-_ As I rounded a corner I ran straight into the son of a bitch.

"Oh crap." I muttered.

"Escaped again I see." He sighed, "Must you make things so difficult?"

"You know a lot of your problems would be solved if you just let me go, there'd be no one to annoy you."

"Actually you amuse me, now let's get you back in your cage my little jail bird."

"Ugh." _I really hate when he calls me that._

"Come on then." He said, indicating the way back to my 'room'. "You can go peacefully, or you can go my way."

"I'd prefer not at all, is that an option?" I asked, as I gathered up my chakra in my hand, then swung with all my strength, aiming for his stupid face.

Unfortunately for me, he was still too fast and easily side stepped as my fist crashed into the rock wall behind him.

"Tsk tsk, I guess it's my way then." He said, and punched me back. My head snapped back from the impact and I was thrown across the corridor into the opposite wall.

I stood up, wiping the blood from my face and faced him.

"That's enough." I said, "Let me go NOW."

"You really don't know when to quit do you?" he said as he stepped forward and grabbed my arm, "Maybe that's part of the reason you survived." He muttered

I cried out in pain as he squeezed my arm and then dragged me back to my prison room.

"Oh look what you've done." He said once he noticed the door and bars of my cage. He sighed.

"And after I went to the trouble of getting you a present."

"I don't want anything you've got for me."

"Oh I think you'll like this one." He said with a smile, then pushed me into the cage, this time chaining me to a hook in the centre of the floor by the cuff on my ankle.

"And I wouldn't bother with your little chakra punch, these chains are infused with _my_ chakra, so they won't be breaking any time soon."

He stepped out and shut the door, not bothering to lock it since there was already a small hole in the bars. Then he pulled the lever and the cage was hoisted into the air again.

"But I think I'll be nice, and let you have your present anyway, it might make you think less about escaping."

He left the room and I fell to the ground. Frantically tugging on the chain, but he was right, they were much stronger and heavier than the other chains he had used. I crawled over to the side of the cage and peered down as he returned, tugging on a leash.

I gasped as he pulled a cursing Elishia into the room and then tied her to the wall using what looked like the same chakra infused chains he had used on me.

"I think you two will have a lot to talk about." He said with a smile, and then left, closing and locking the broken door behind him. I heard a banging as he hammered something over the gap in the door.

"You're a crazy lunatic!" Elishia shouted, "What did you mean by that? There's no one here to talk to!"

"Um, Elishia?" I called down

I saw her ears swivel around, looking for the source of the noise, then she looked up. "Manny?"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, what about you?"

"Oh just dandy." I replied sarcastically.

"…Are you in a birdcage?"

"Yeah, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a cat box waiting for you, this guy's a total psycho."

"Yeah, I figured."

"Listen, he's been running these tests on me, and he'll probably do the same to you."

"What kind of tests?"

"He's checking to see how well we can cooperate with our new limbs, he's been making me fly around and he'll probably make you do some cat stuff."

"Ok, but why?"

"We were his first patients to survive, so he wants to see how well the operation went before he tries anything new on others."

"So should we go along with it? Or resist? We don't want to give him any information."

"I know, but the tests he's running are harmless for now, I don't know what else he has in store for us."

There was a moment of silence as we both imagined the worst case scenario. I shook my head to clear the bad thoughts.

"So you're ok? Did you manage to get help?"

"I…I don't know, I mean I made it to the Sand Village, then came out here with Gaara, but we ran into him and while Gaara was fighting some sort of weird mutant creature thing, he caught me."

"Well, at least Gaara knows the rough location." I said

"Yeah, he'll find us." she agreed

"So do you know where we are? Cause I have no clue, I was unconscious and then just woke up here."

"Um, I think we're somewhere in the mountains, we headed north east from the Hidden Sand, toward the Leaf village, but we were stopped before we even made it halfway, then I was dragged here."

"Well now we just need to focus on escaping."

"What about our plan? To get information? I know we didn't get the training we wanted first but we might as well-"

"I think I have all the information we need regarding the operations he performed on us, though I still have no idea how we got to this world."

"Right, so how do we escape then?"

"I have no clue."

"Fantastic."


	16. Despiration

The tests started first thing in the morning, Manny had already warned me about the 'persuasion' he would use but I don't think he has realised it yet…

"You're such a good girl kitten, why you deserve a treat."

I didn't bother answering, mainly it was because I was too busy running on the treadmill type gadget on all fours. Even though I had been at it for about twenty minutes now. I felt the sweat drip down my forehead and then I watched it fall off, it was more entertaining than looking at that stupid face shining in happiness.

"How about another kitten? I think I've seen a small girl that would be suitable…"

I fell off and stared at him from my crumpled mess, "You can't keep doing this! Don't you know it's wrong?"

"And here I was trying to be nice kitten; your master is so disappointed," he sat me up and removed the circles that he had stuck to my skin, "but I think we're done for today. I'm taking you to your room tonight; angel is in my bad books ever since she tried to attack me this morning."

"I want to stay with Manny‼"

"Not tonight," he attached the leash to my collar and pulled me gently out of the room, "I also put a new change of clothes in your room for you, I gave some to angel as well, you'll see in time that I'm a very nice master and that I take good care of my pets."

"You're crazy," I mumbled to myself, all my courage to stand up to him just vanishing.

It wasn't long till we got to 'my' room; inside most of the room was covered in lush cushions, a scratching post in one corner, and two bowls; one with water and one with some sort of undistinguishable meat. He took my leash off and hung it up on a small hook; he knew that I couldn't get out of here because I was so weak. Normand, as Manny told me his name before the tests this morning, closed the door but spoke to me from outside of it, "I'll find you something nice to play with, I promise that you'll love it."

I ran to the door but I knew it was hopeless, that sick fuck was going to do something horrid and it was going to be my fault. After giving up once more I decided to change into the clothes he had left but only because I reeked in the ones I was currently wearing. As soon as I saw them I decided to change my mind, it was nothing more than a black corset, a black skirt that would be just reaching my mid thighs and complimentary black stilettos with it. I threw the trashy clothes across the room and sat in my own misery again.

_Stupid Gaara, why did you make me promise…_

* * *

I stared down at the white dress lying in my cage. There was no way in hell I was wearing that. It was all lacy and frilly and just disgusting, I refuse to play along with his sick game.

I sat down in my cage and sighed. Normand had repaired the bars with a stronger metal, but still kept me chained to the floor. Peering down through the bars I could only watch helplessly as he dragged Twigg away to do his stupid tests.

I pulled the notebook out of my pocket and began to read. It appeared that he was trying to create new breeds of human animal hybrids, giving people animal abilities to create some kind of super ninja. Or at least it had started out like that. It seemed he was working under orders, but once his boss left, he continued just for himself. God knows why.

I flipped through the pages, he had given one girl gills, but she had drowned in her tank. Another girl he had given snake fangs and eyes, but she had died from the poison. There were several other kids he had mutated and changed, and they had all died because of it.

I read over the information on me and Twigg again, hoping to memorise as much of it in case he took the book back. My wings and her tail and ears were not only connected to our nervous system, but also to our chakra network. But I still don't know how he performed the procedure, those notes must be elsewhere.

I hastily shoved the notebook back in my pocket as the door opened below me.

"I'm back pretty birdie." He cooed

"Where's Elishia?" I yelled down tat him. "You better not have hurt her."

"Now why would I do that? I'm a good master to my pets."

"You're seriously sick in the head."

"Still misbehaving my little jailbird."

"Let me out of here." I growled.

"That's actually what I came to do; we have more tests to run." He said as he pulled the lever that lowered the cage. He unlocked the door and stepped in.

"Why aren't you wearing your new clothes? I got them specially for you my angel."

"I'd prefer my own clothes thanks."

"Very well, but I think you'll change your mind soon."

I shied away from him as he moved forward to unlock the chains from the floor, then he pulled on them and I had no choice but to follow.

"Now I have some special tests for you."

"Oh lucky me." I replied sarcastically.

"Since you've figured out how to work your chakra, I thought it's time we move to phase two."

"And that would be?"

"Applying your chakra to your wings."

"And what will that achieve?"

"It will give me a lot of information." He said as we entered a large room, "I'm curious to see if it can be done." He replaced my short chain with the longer one and then bolted it to the wall.

"Now fly to the ceiling and back."

I said nothing as I spread my wings, pushing them down so I would shoot upwards, once I reached the ceiling, I spiralled down back to the floor.

"Now send chakra to your wings, and fly to the ceiling as fast as you can." He ordered as he made a note in the book he was holding.

_Now's my chance, this longer chain isn't chakra infused so it should be weaker. If I could break it and then get past him, then I'm outta here._

I concentrated on sending chakra to my wings; I had used them so much that they were a real part of me now so it wasn't very hard. Once they were tingling with all that energy, I pushed down and shot upwards at an amazing speed.

"Whoa!" I screamed as I crashed into the ceiling, not realising how fast I accelerated upwards. I managed to twist myself around and catch the air before it was too late and then glided back to the floor. "Hmm, very good. Again." He said lazily as he made another note.

I sent the chakra to my wings again and shot upwards, this time bracing myself for when I reached the top, once there I hovered for a bit, then glided back down.

"And again" he said

Sending chakra to my fist, I reached down and grabbed the chain, snapping it in two.

"Hey what are you doing!" he yelled

"Sorry Normand but I'm done with these tests!" I yelled as I sent chakra to my wings and shot upwards, then with all my strength I punched through the ceiling and came out on the other side.

_I did it!_ I swooped around in joy as he cursed from below; you never realize how much you miss fresh air until you go weeks without it.

"You realise." he said calmly from down below. "That I can punish you even if you're not here!" then ran to the door. _Oh crap Twigg!_

Going against all my instincts to run away, I dived back down the hole I had made, landing roughly on my feet. I ran after him through the door.

_Where is she? Where is Twigg?_

"Elishia!" I screamed, not caring if he heard me. "Elishia where are you!"

I heard a muffled yell and followed it. Running through the corridors, another yell. This time it was louder.

"Becca!"

"Twigg! Where are you?!"

"No! Becca get away!" The yell came from a door at the end of the hallway. I charged towards it, gathering up chakra in my hand and punched straight through it, crashing through to the other side and rolling along the ground.

I stood up to see Normand holding onto a lead that was tied to her collar, no, it was wrapped around her neck. Normand pulled on the choker chain and she gagged.

"Now see what you made me do?"

"Let her go. I came back."

"So you did, but you don't seem to respond when I punish _you_, so maybe I need to punish _her_ so you'll behave next time."

He gave the chain another yank and Twigg fell to her knees, gasping for air.

"No please, let her go." I cried.

"Will you behave?"

"I'll do anything, don't hurt her."

"Good." He said and relaxed the chain, Elishia breathed in gratefully. "Now go to your room and get dressed."

_That sicko. _"Fine." I growled, I hated that freak so much, but I couldn't have Twigg get hurt because of my stupid pride. "Just take the chain off her."

"But then how will I know you'll behave?"

"If you hurt her again I swear I'll-"

"You'll what?"

"I'll make you regret it."

"I doubt that, from now on, if one of you misbehaves, the _other_ one gets punished."

I turned and stormed out the door, muttering under my breath every single curse I knew, once back at my 'room' or what I called my prison cell; I picked up the white dress in disgust.

"Oh you freak" I muttered and slipped it on, keeping my shorts on underneath.

"Now you really are my pretty little angel." I heard a moment later as he entered my room. "I'm glad we found a way to cooperate."

"Cooperating normally means a mutual agreement." I snapped back

"At least we are getting along now. And now I only really need to keep one of you chained at a time."

I glared at him as he locked the cage and pulled the lever to hoist me into the air.

But now I know where twigs room is, and how we can get out. If I can get to her before he does, then we can get out of here. But if I don't he'll hurt her. Is it worth the risk?

* * *

I could still feel that chain around my neck. Normand went outside so I could change, which I did so willingly, but now he was back and he seemed apologetic, "Now kitten, don't look at me like that, this is the only way to keep your friend in check. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

"Let me go."

He actually laughed at my plea, "Don't be absurd, that outfit is cute on you though. I'm glad I picked it out," he began to mumble insanely to himself as he left, leaving the door wide open behind him.

Was this a trick? Did he want me to leave or was he testing to see if I would follow so he could punish Manny? I didn't want to risk it. I sat on one of the many cushions defeated, I wasn't as strong as Rebecca I just didn't have her will to defy this terrifying old man. I just couldn't do it. I heard a small laugh from outside before the door shut completely.

I knew he was testing me, and I think I passed the 'wuss' grade with flying colours. I got off the stupid pillow and went to the window in my room, I already tried prying it open and that didn't work but if I could get something out then maybe I could get a message out to Gaara to come find us.

I quickly retreated from the window because I had no plan, I needed to be able to transform into some sort of small child but I didn't know the Jutsu. I didn't even know if I could use Justus. If only I was twelve years younger…

_Or had a small friend…_

"Norm- I mean, MASTER‼"

He came back with the biggest smile I had ever seen, "What is it my precious?"

"I…I want to take up your offer. I want that friend you've told me about, I want a little sister that I can teach."

"How adorable‼" he clapped his hands together in pleasure, "It shall be done my little pet, it shall be done. In fact I'll leave right now so I can have her ready for you to play with by the end of tomorrow. Kitten you don't know how happy you've made me."

"I only want to please my master," _and Gaara's my master, he makes me purr._

Normand kissed the top of my head; I hope he didn't feel me shudder, "Sleep now my pet, master will bring your sister to you very soon."


End file.
